Plastic State of Mind

*If your computer is slow, click play, then change “720p” to 480p, for a lower rez experience.

Plastic State of Mind (commissioned by Green Sangha) has quickly become a viral hit, giving citizens all over the world a creative tool to pressure policymakers into banning ultra-light plastic bags. It’s also being used an opportunity to teach family, friends and students in a way that’s been more effective than most basic fact sheets. The power of music and comedy (and a heck of a of social media boost) can go a long way…

News & Social Media Coverage

GreenMarketing.TV: Green Entrepreneurs Turned Activists Take on Plastic Bags
Treehugger: Plastic Rap Goes Viral
Oakland Local: Bay Area eco-parody video gets 65,000 views in 10 days
Grist: Plastic bag rap urges people to jump on the ban-wagon

Teaching Tool

The film has been shown at assemblies across the US and Europe, but this special in-person performance was a reward for students at Dover Elementary who had been studying a curriculum centered around Plastic State of Mind. Before and after the performance, the students mobbed Jenni and AshEl, crying out for autographs and begging to show off all they had learned about plastics. Enjoy the show, as the kids did.

CREDITS
Starring:
Ben Zolno -- Writer/Lyricist/Director/Bag Boy/Editor
Glenn Sauber -- Shopper
AshEl Eldridge -- Rapper http://seasunz-and-jbless.bandcamp.com/
Jenni Perez -- Singer
Bex Kanengiser -- Cashier
Many awesome Green Sangha volunteers -- Shoppers

Production:
Amy English -- Production Coordinator, AD
David Nakabayashi -- DP
Harrison Pierce -- Consultant, Animatic, AC
Bo Cox -- Camera Op
Seneca -- Rap Recording Engineer
Colin Menzies -- Working Music Track
Amurai http://bit.ly/amuraipsm -- Final Music Track and Mastering

Sponsorship:
Good Earth Organic -- http://bit.ly/goodearthorganicpsm
To-Go Ware -- http://bit.ly/togowarepsm
Chico Bag -- http://bit.ly/chicobagplastic
People Towels -- http://bit.ly/peopletowelspsm
Sponsorship Coordinator -- Carrie Staller sustainablesales at g mail dot com

LYRICS
Shoulda brought your own bag
Yeah but you forgot it though
You were busy dreamin of ice cream and
all that cookie dough

Your life is wrapped in plastic
Convenience is your motto
But plastic addiction’s worse
than they want you to know

BP’s oil spill
Almost like we did it -
We use one million grocery-bags
every single minute

Recycling them’s a joke yo
That baggie don’t go anywhere
It turns to little pieces
and then it spreads over everywhere

Into your food supply
Into your blood supply
Not to mention birds and fish and
Cuties you don’t wanna die

Just look at baby Sammy
Dioxins in its milky way,
cuz even her breast milk it’s got
PCB and BPA

OK now you get it
How you gonna stop it though
Banning Single Use Plastic Bags
is the way to go!

Join other states and cities
Kick the nasty habit
Tell your representatives
Ban single-use bags made from

Chorus:
Plastic
Fossil product all your crap’s made of
There’s one thing we can do
Ban bags made of plastic
Skip the bag, the cup and spork dude
Convenience will kill you
Ban single use plastic toxic bags

Bridge:
Sustainably we go forth and save our cities
Bringing your own bag and forks and bottles should be easy
But corporations selling toxins bought the government
Stand together for yourself, your kids, the planet sayin’

Yeah, yeah,
Ban single-use bags made of

Chorus:
PLASTIC
Fossil product all your crap’s made of
There’s one thing we can do
Ban bags made of plastic

Bring your own don’t you forget dude
And let your reps know too
Ban single use plastic toxic bags!

FAQ
Q: How many plastic bags were used in this video, eh? Mm? Eh?
A: We asked volunteers to bring in only used bags they found lying around outside, and other plastic bags were part of the bag monster costumes. After the shoot, the bags went back to the homes or put back onto the costume.

Sometimes we have to do environmental harm to have a larger benefit, e.g take an airplane to Washington DC to help pass effective pollution emissions policy, but in the case of this plastic bag video, we didn’t have to do so.

Download Screener Version:
PC: Right-click Plastic State of Mind Screener and select “Save As”
Mac: In Safari browser, control-click Plastic State of Mind Screener and select “Download Linked File”
<213mb file> Allow a lot of time.

If you don’t have a way to play Quicktime files on your PC, download and install Quicktime player.

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