The Dark Side of the Chew | Andrew Nisker | TEDxUofT

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. In high school, in the mid-80's, Andrew Nisker wanted to play guitar in a rock band so he cold change the world through music. Nobody wanted to play with him, so instead, he picked up a camera and started making documentaries about social environmental issues.

In 2013 Nisker traveled many miles to weave together a story of something that is so prevalent today throughout the world, yet has a tremendous economic and environmental impact. It's considered a habit that everybody does, or has done, but that no one thinks much about. That is, until now.

Andrew Nisker makes films that inspire people to take action and revolutionize the way they treat the environment and themselves.

His latest film, Dark Side of the Chew, takes on the world's second most common form of litter: chewing gum. Andrew believes that the story will act as a gateway to young minds to enhance their awareness of this seemingly invisible pollution that has an enormous social, environmental and economic impact. He is currently working on an accompanying 'Gum Shoe' app that will give any smart phone user the opportunity to quantify gum pollution by simply taking a picture of the gum-strewn sidewalks in their hometown. He hopes the combination of the film and the crowd-sourced gum pollution map will pressure governments, industry, and consumers to tackle the worldwide polluting habits that perpetuate an annual clean-up cost of over one billion dollars.

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