Today I’ve been talking to the folks over at The Merc. Come Earth Day, the store will no longer provide plastic bags to its customers. I’ll have more on that decision soon, along with some eye-opening numbers on the impact plastic bags have on our environment.

But after that conversation, I couldn’t help but think of this mockumentary short film. It forever changed how I look at a plain old plastic bag.

The film, directed by Ramin Bahrani and voiced by Werner Herzog, is part of FUTURESATES, a series of short narrative films that take today’s complex social issues to imagine what life in America will be like in the decades to come (that’s straight from their website).

Warning the video is more than 18 minutes long, but it is beautifully shot and worth watching until the last line.