Mayim versus the bottles

Mayim versus the bottles

Mayim Bialik’s latest acting gig has her traveling in time — and promoting environmentalism.

In a humorous commercial for Israeli seltzer company SodaStream, the Jewish actress (“The Big Bang Theory”) and neuroscientist (she earned a doctorate from UCLA) stars as an anthropologist in the year 2136 recalling an encounter with a near-extinct species: “The Homoschlepiens.”

The Homoschlepiens — among them actor Kristian Nairn (Hodor from “Game of Thrones,” in a very Hodor-like role) — are defined by the fact that they cannot drink water that doesn’t come from a plastic bottle. Bialik talks about the species to a group of school kids who are gathered at “The Museum of UnNatural History”; the children, who live in a world without plastic bottles, are shocked.

Bialik then touts the benefits of the SodaStream machine to make sparkling water at home — no plastic bottles needed.

The commercial, which was shot in Ukraine, was a good fit for the Jewish actress, who is passionate about the environment.

“As a species, we have evolved so much, but much as we know plastic bottles pollute our environment and kill marine life, we continue to use them,” Bialik, 41, wrote in an email. “Single-use plastic bottles should be a thing of the past and belong in a museum!”

“My love affair with the environment started as a teenager: I was fascinated with all animals and with marine animals in particular,” she added. “Even in high school, I used canvas bags instead of paper or plastic and was ridiculed for it; it wasn’t part of our collective consciousness yet as a society to reduce and reuse yet!”

Even small changes can make a difference, she said, noting that “recycling is better than nothing.”

Still, “recycling itself is a ‘dirty’ business that involves robust industrial system of transportation and facilities which ironically are highly contaminating on their own,” she wrote. “This is why I think that the future lies in reduction at the source — and this is what SodaStream stands for and it’s why I am so happy to be a part of this campaign.”

JTA Wire Service

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