logo

Japanese study detects microplastics in clouds, potentially altering the climate

No one wants to imagine giant cloud filled with plastic raining crud water all over them. Unfortunately, that is increasingly becoming reality, according to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters. A team of Japanese scientists analyzed cloud water sampled at Mount Fuij and other Japanese mountains summits from 1300 to 3776 meters in altitude to search for microplastics....

Originally posted on salon.com

We’re dumping less plastic in the ocean than previously thought. It’s still a dangerous amount

The good news is that, according to recent research in the journal Nature Geoscience, we’re dumping less plastic into the ocean than previously estimated. The bad news is that it’s still a dangerously high amount that will have dramatic negative effects for the environment if not mitigated.

From an ecological standpoint, the new study is equivalent to a doctor telling a patient with high cholesterol: Your cholesterol is still dangerously high, but perhaps not as bad as we previously thought....

Originally posted on salon.com

No, you don’t eat a credit card worth of plastic every week. But you still swallow a lot of it

Imagine enjoying a fresh salad, a juicy steak or a fluffy pastry. As your taste buds savor the various flavors, the enjoyable experience is suddenly and unpleasantly interrupted by a loud crunch sound. When you spit out your food and look at the contents, you discover to your horror that there is a credit card embedded within your meal....

Originally posted on salon.com

“Significant global ecological disruption”: Plastic is destroying Earth — and recycling won’t help

Children in Western countries have long been taught the virtues of recycling. Because plastic products never decompose on their own, kids are instructed to dispose of them in specially-designated bins so they can be reused. The thinking is that if plastic products are continuously repurposed instead of being simply thrown away, it will lessen the plastic pollution crisis currently choking off life on this planet....

Originally posted on salon.com

Cleaning up plastic pollution on Earth isn’t impossible. A new UN report explains how

Plastic pollution arguably poses as much of a threat to humanity’s survival as climate change. It enters our food and water, and therefore our bodies, and has been linked to diseases from infertility to cancer. Plastic pollution is also clogging up our ocean, with giant piles and random junk alike destroying the lives of millions of sea turtles, seabirds and marine mammals....

Originally posted on salon.com