How much influence does plastic have over the world? Perhaps you would be unsurprised if I said that it has a great influence. But how great is it? Well, great enough to show up in the unlikeliest of places, like in the deepest depths of the ocean, in the Arctic ice, in our guts, and even on the tallest mountain on the face of the earth — Mount Everest.
Plastic plays an increasingly large role in our lifestyles: Globally, the use of plastics has shot up from around 5 million metric tons in the 1950s to more than 330 million metric tons in 2020. As they’re used and cast away, these plastic products shed tiny particles. The broken-down bits of bags, bottles and other consumer plastics, each smaller than 5 millimeters, can harm animals, such as marine crabs that get plastics stuck in their gills … They may also mess with ecosystems...
Learn more details about this over at Science News.
(Image Credit: stux/ Pixabay)
around a dolphins neck, hopefully not
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
An endless stream of new plastic, a limited global surface area, and a very high lifetime in the environment.. you will find this stuff litterally everywhere, and it will help extinct one species after another. When considering the priomary medium of transport, you know what particle size you have to look for..
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)