He might just be shielding his face from the heat. That said, I saw a little plant that almost survived the lava flow, and it was much closer than he was, so idk.
Normally when I see geologists standing around lava they have masks on, so I’d assume he has one under whatever he’s got on his face. Either that or maybe he was getting a couple quick scoops and wasn’t going to be standing around long enough for a mask to make a huge difference.
Ooo, you can use a plastic bag, like the kind supermarkets still use, in place of a pot too! Granted, I wouldn’t recommend it because god knows what plastics are leeching out of your makeshift pot and into the water, but if you need to boil water and all you have is a plastic bag, well, there you go!
Considering how plastic trash is literally everywhere now, a survival situation where you have a reasonably intact walmart bag but no pot is more likely than you’d think.
How geologists collect lava (i.imgur.com)