PLASTICS & ENVIRONMENT
SITUATION:
1,100 tons of micro- plastics are floating over the western United States,
Particles stay airborne for nearly a week–enough time to cross oceans.
SIGNIFICANCE:
Plastics that are falling from the sky are smaller than 5 ml & from many sources.
Plastic bags & bottles thrown into waterways & break down into smaller pieces.
Your washing machine is another source of tiny microfibers.
Falls off washed synthetic clothing; Flushed into wastewater treatment plants.
Any remaining microfibers get flushed out to ocean along with the treated water.
SOLUTIONS:
Find alternative to surgical masks that are made with synthetic material.
Realize that millions of micro plastics could be stuck in someone’s lungs.
Makes one look at clothing, microfiber towels & cloths, sanitizing wipes, differently
STATS:
84% of airborne micro-plastics come from the roads outside of major cities,
Additional 11% possibly blowing all the way in from the ocean.
More micro-plastic blowing out over the ocean than going into it
SEZ:
“Plastic is the new acid rain.” – Matt Simon, the author of the Wired article
“So much has accumulated in the ocean that the land may now be a net importer of micro-plastic from the sea.”—
Janice Brahney, Environmental scientist. Utah State University.
“The amount of plastics that are in our ocean is just overwhelming compared to anything that we produce in any given year in the terrestrial environment.”
“It could just be moving around the surface of the Earth endlessly.”
“That’s just really horrifying to think about.”
SOURCES:
1) https://cleantechnica.com/2021/04/16/its-literally-raining-plastic/
“It’s Literally Raining Plastic”
2) New modeling recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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