The Wild World of Pesticides
Clyde Petersen
Hazardous Waste Management Program
Animated puppets explain the history of DDT in this stop-motion video, which offers tips for healthy gardening.
Clyde Petersen’s short film The Wild World of Pesticides (El Mundo Peligroso de los Pesticidas) details the history of DDT and suggests ways people can reduce the use of toxic pesticides. Made using stop-motion animated paper puppets, it features penguins, bugs, plants, and people in a watercolor landscape. The narrative gives tips for healthy landscaping, farming, and gardening, and suggests ways to use chemicals as safely as possible, if needed.
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This four-minute PSA begins with a historical look at the use of DDT in agriculture, communities, and homes around the world. After farmers spray crops, DDT molecules travel on global winds, condensing in the planet’s colder arctic areas, where they freeze into the ice, preserved for future generations. Decades later, the ice melts, releasing DDT, which is absorbed by phytoplankton, the main food source for krill. Birds eat the krill and DDT builds up in their bodies, passed on to baby birds and found in their eggshells.
Petersen is an animator, musician, and member of S.E.A.T. (Seattle Experimental Animation Team).
About the Location
Hazardous Waste Management Program
Hazardous materials are a social issue because the ways we use, store, and dispose of them affect public health and the wellbeing of our environment. 4Culture and King County’s Local Hazardous Waste Management Program came together to commission a comic book and a short film to raise awareness and show how toxins impact public health and environmental…
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