1. Moring, in the office of Doctor Almroth.

Camera stays with doctor Almroth at the angle of door.

Tittle Card: “The first contact, 2019”

At the beginning, Almroth arrives the hospital as usual. He

always arrives earlier than working time so that she can
enjoy a cup of coffee in her office. But today, a hasty
knock on the door disrupts his schedule, and Mr. earth shows
up.

Almroth
Come in!
Earth

Hi Dr. Almroth! I’m Mr. Earth, and I have an

appointment with you on 9am. Hopefully you don’t
forget.
Earth Poked his head through the crack of the door, talking
nervously.
Almroth

Ok Mr. Earth. But you are here too early, it is

only half past eight.
While talking to Mr. Earth, Dr. Almroth begins to get
dressed for work.
Earth
I know and I’m sorry for that. It’s just…something
is wrong with me, and I really need your help.

The actor mush shows the anxiety not only because of his
health issue, but also for interrupting Almroth.

Almroth
You are lucky that I’m not busy today. However,
the problem you are suffering must be challenging,
 or at least interesting, for me. I mean, you are
early, and I don’t want to waste my valuable time
on a problem that can be cured by any other doc in
Outpatient department.
Almroth
So, what’s wrong with you?
Almroth
I accidentally cut my finger, but the wound is not
the problem. It’s my blood. The color of my blood
is much lighter than before. It’s becoming
transparent!

The problem of Mr. earth seems attract Doctor’s attention,

since he stops cleaning up the table. As one of the best
doctors in solar town, there has not been a case that
attracted her in a while.

Almroth
Interesting. Get a blood test, and we will know
what is happening in your body. I never encounter
this kind of problem before
Cut to:
2. 30 minutes later. In the office of Almroth.
Tittle Card: “The shocking result.”

Almroth
So, I’m not surprised about your symptom after
reading the result of your blood test. Just look
at the concentration level of plastic debris in
your blood. Take a look by yourself.
Dr. Almroth gives the report of blood test tot earth.
Although there are many jargons, it’s not hard for earth to
see how serious the problem is.

Camera gives a close-up view to the report and then the

facial expression of Earth.
 Solar town Hospital
Medical report
Name: Earth Gender: sexless
 Age: 4.54 billion

Date: 5/12/2020 SSN: 000000 Address: Solar town

Symptom
Direct observation: Blood color change from dark red to light red.
The blood test shows that large amount of micro plastics exists in the circulatory system.
Many kinds of cell in Internal circulatory system are experiencing blockage of intestinal
tracts, inflammation, oxidative stress, hormone disruption, reproductive impact, and
metabolic and behavioral changes

Pathogenesis
Ingestion of large quantity of plastics, including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE),
polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyurethane (PUR), polyterephthalate (PET), and polystyrene (PS).
A small amount of intake will not cause too much harm, but the problem of ingestion is
long-term, especially when the body cannot deal with excess amount of plastics.

Effects
The plastics mixed with other nutrient is digested by many organs unconsciously. This will
potentially lead to the endocrine disruption, cancers, developmental disorders, and
reproductive abnormalities for many organs, especially those that have close relationship
with circulatory system.

Prescription
Gradually replace the intake of plastics.
During this process, strictly control the quality of plastics that absorbed by the body.
Consciously developed the ability of organs to classify and released them to the body.

Patient’s signature:
 Earth
……

Looking at the result, Mr.earth don’t know what to say.

Almroth
Are you abusing plastics product?

Almroth breaks the silence and begins to take this very

seriously.

Earth
I don’t know if “abuse” is the word for me. I
mean, plastic product is very common. I’m not
subjectively addicted to it. It’s just because
many organs in my body require it to function. I
have been using it for decades without any
apparent side-effect.
Almroth
According to the amount of plastic debris floating
in your circulatory system, you need to intake at
least 8000 million metric tons of plastic to reach
this level. I’ve never seen a person like you.
About what you think about the side-effect, I just
had a patient last week who overuses the fossil
fuel. He was pretty healthy at the first decade.
But suddenly, fever falls onto him. What I’m
trying to say is that we never encounter this
before so that we don’t know what the long-term
effect of intaking such huge amount of plastic is.
As far as we can see, those debris are causing
many healthy issue to your cells and organs. You
need to get rid of the plastic product.
Earth
I don’t know if I could. I know there are other
substitute goods, but the plastic product is very
cheap. And in my point of view, they are
beneficial to my body in many ways. For example,
it is helpful for me to transfer the nutrient to
the relatively far organs without being waste
during the path.
Almroth
You are partially right. Appropriate use of
plastics can improve the efficiency of your body.
But you have to gradually get rid of your
dependence on the plastics. Right now, about 79
percent of plastic is stack in your blood vessel,
which will eventually kill you.
Earth
With so many benefits, I cannot imagine the life
without plastic. Every organ in my body is
operating based on it
Almroth

Like addiction to drug, right? I know this process

is painful, but there is something you need to
take care. First, the quality of the plastic is
not same from different sources. Some of the
plastic are very toxic for your body, before
completely get rid of it, at least ensure the
quality is not too bad. Second, your body is
complex, which means it’s impossible for all
organs to identify and expel them off the body
after benefiting from it. Here, I recommend you
take a medicine called biodegradable plastics.
Moreover, you might want to consider EPR program.
In this program, the manufacture of the plastics
has responsibility to take care of your body, kind
of like an insurance.

Earth
Thanks for you advise, doc. I will pay more
attention to my body. But I think it’s still
impossible to eradicate this issue. I will keep
contact with you, and hopefully, we can solve it!
Almroth
Definitely do that. It’s my pleasure to study a
new kind of health issue.
Cut
To be continued…
Self-reflective essay:
I translate a research article in environmental studies,  Marine Plastic Pollution: Sources,

Impacts, and Policy Issues,  to a medical screenplay transcript. To be specificSpecifically, the

articlematerial is about the analysis of plastic debris in marine ecosystemecosystems and how

it potentially affects the environment and human beingbeings. I choose this article because,

as an environmental studies majorstudy-majored student , this is an opportunity for me not

only to get familiar with what I might learn in the future, but also to practice conveying the

complicated theory and term to the public in an attracted way without boring them.

The reason for translating the article into a screenplay transcript is that a screenplay has

significant amount of dialog. Honestly, I wanted to translate it into a novel rather than a

screenplay at first. But the story that I designed can’t perfectly fit into any genre of novel. In a

novel, many information is told by the author, which would be very redundant if I just simply tell

the audience all the conflict and background. Instead, the large amount of conversation and

interaction in a screenplay helps me show the ambivalence of facing the trade-offs of plastic

product. Moreover, the scene planning, and the angle of the camera help my audience picture the

actual screenplay and then visualize the problem. Comparing with a novel, the screenplay is

more vivid and its plot twists and turns more rapidly, which suits my goal that to make the article

more interesting and attracting for the public.

Understanding the basic requirement of a screenplay transcript is important. The basic structure

for a screenplay includes exposition, rising action ,, climax, falling action, and conclusion.

The theme of this screenplay is the discussion about marine plastic issue. This includes stating

fact about this problem, such as cause and effect, and, most importantly, the attitude of human

being and the possibility of the future. The transcript is divided into 2two parts. The first
part, called “"the first contact, 2019”", consists of exposition and rising action. TheIn the

second part, “"the shocking result”" covers the climax and falling point. Most

importantly, the theme, the conflict between the human beings’ reliance on the plastic product

and its potential impact, connects each part to another.

ExpositionDiscussion about the marine plastic issue, including stating facts about this problem,

such as the cause and effect, and, most importantly, the human being's attitude and the possibility

of the future.

The exposition is introducing the set upsetup and background information. In the transcript,

I introduced 2two characters, which are Doctor Almroth and Mr. earth. In fact, Bethanie

Carney AlmrothBethanie Carney Almroth is a person in real life, who is one of the authors of

this research article. I only use one author in this screenplay since I have to control the

length. Everyevery character needs enough context to show his characteristic, and I

don’tdon't want to discuss too many characters without their traits being

understandunderstood by the audience. It’s clearlyThe two characters represent two kinds of

mainstream concept in the real world. The first kind is that global economy greatly relies on the

plastic product due to the low cost and light weight. In the contrary, the plastic has begun to

penetrate the food chain. It's apparently that I personate the earth so that it can have

expression, motion, and interaction with Almroth. I made some change so thatIn the

screenplay, the earth is damaged by itself because of abuse of plastic rather than caused by

human being. However, the truth is that our earthplanet is thean innocent victim. It’sIt's

hard to blame a specific person or a group of people since all most everyone is

benefitingbenefits from the plastics, but. Still, I believe that the audiences are able to knowcan

understand what I’mI'm referring to since human being has dominated most land of earth.  
In the exposition, by making earth arrives early, I create a sense of urgency for the earth to

show that people have to pay attention onto this problem. We don’tdon't want to wait until

the situation is deteriorated. For Almroth, I add many action and detail to establish the

credibility of her because I want people to take the problem of plastic seriously. The

conversation between them is to smoothly lead to the problem of plastic smoothly. This is

the rising action of the transcript, which introduces the main conflict of the story. From

here, I begin to use many metaphors. Based on my setting, if the earth is a person, then the

marine system is his blood, or circulatory system. I compare a human beingbeings to organs

and other species to cells because I think the impact of human beingbeings on earth is

greatestmost significant in the Anthropocene, but. However, they still need the support of

cells to function normally. This is reflected in the ecosystem. Even the ability to craft and

utilize tooltools makes human the top predator, we still need other animals to sustain the

ecosystem.  

Then, the climax of the story, which buildbuilds to the height of tension, is raised by the

blood test result. The blood test result is not a necessary part forof the transcript of the

screen, but. Still, to avoid using redundant conversation to provide information, I regard it

as a prop for my screenplay and displace it to my audience. Here, I want to talk about the

challenge, which relates related to this medical report and my audience. AudienceThe

audience is importantessential for any form of art. The challenge I have is that potentially I

have 2two groups of audienceaudiences. The first group is the crew of my screenplay.

Although they do not exist, I have to make my transcript easy to understand for them,

which forces me to do everything in formal way.formally. For example, I need to give a name

for each section and mention the camera's angle of camera. This information is not important
forvital to the integrity of my story and my second group of audience, which isare the people

in real life.  

For my second group of audienceaudiences, as I mentioned, how to conveyconveying the

central idea of the environmental studies paper to them without boring them is difficult.

This is whereTo achieve this goal, I decide to use a medical report. Although I cite some data

to the dialog, most of the information about the cause and effect of plastic debris is shown

in this report. TheIn the first part, which is the personal information of Mr. earth, I added

some very interesting parts.exciting elements. Even if I call him “"Mr. earth”, what," I really

want to convey is that there is no sexuality for the earth. The “"symptom”" and “"effect”"

are corresponding to short-term and long-term effecteffects, the “"pathogenies”" is the

cause, and the prescription is the solution. I didn’tdidn't just simply copy the information

from the original article. Instead, I combine the information with the metaphor I

mentioned in the previous context to make the report more vivid.

The falling action is to showshows the result of what happens when the main character

makes an importantoutstanding choice. This, which is introduceddone by introducing a debate

between the doctor and patient. The doctor keeps emphasizing the urgency of getting rid of

plastic productproducts, while the patient counter argues withcounterargues its benefits of it. I

want to use this part to reflect the fact that it’sit's hard to find balance in the reality when it

comes to environmental problems. Plastic seems to be an indispensable part of modern life

and industry. So manyMany industries, for example,such as the manufacturing industry,

food industry, and the electron industry, are relyingrely on the plastic. Thus, I’mI'm

provoking thought and leaving the question that how we are going to find the balance
between the health of marine ecosystemecosystems and a kind of cheap raw material to my

audience.  

I also add a small estereaster egg in the last part, which is anothera patient mentioned by the

doctor. Although the setting of fossil fuel is a little bit deviated from the reality since it

ishuman beings also caused by human being, whatcause it, I want to focus ison the fact that

people should learn lessons from the climate change. The hugeenormous amount of fossil

fuel is consumed for decades without seeing any clearly impact until recent years.

Therefore, I want to educate my audience (second group) that we should begin to take this

problem seriously before it becomes totoo late.  

Reference
Almroth, B. C., & Eggert, H. (2019). Marine Plastic Pollution: Sources, Impacts, and Policy Issues. Review
of Environmental Economics and Policy, 13(2), 317–326. doi: 10.1093/reep/rez012