Japanese scientists find microplastics are present in clouds
Japanese scientists find microplastics are present in clouds
Japanese scientists have found between 6.7 and 13.9 pieces of microplastic in each litre of cloud water tested.
Researchers in Japan have confirmed that microplastics are present in clouds, where they are likely affecting the climate in ways that are not yet fully understood.
In a study published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, Japanese scientists climbed Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama in order to collect water from the mists that shroud the peaks, then applied advanced imaging techniques to the samples to determine their physical and chemical properties.
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The team identified nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber in the airborne microplastics, which ranged in size from 7.1 to 94.6 micrometres.
Each litre (0.26 gallon) of cloud water tested contained between 6.7 to 13.9 pieces of the plastics.
“If the issue of ‘plastic air pollution’ is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future,” lead author of the research, Hiroshi Okochi of Waseda University, warned in a statement on Wednesday.
When microplastics reach the upper atmosphere and are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, they degrade, contributing to greenhouse gasses, Okochi said.
Microplastics – which are defined as plastic particles under 5 millimetres that come from industrial effluent, textiles, synthetic car tires, personal care products and other sources – have already been discovered inside fish, peppering Arctic sea ice, and in the snows on the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
However, the mechanisms of their transport to such varied locations had remained unclear, with research on airborne microplastic transport in particular being limited.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on airborne microplastics in cloud water,” the authors wrote in their paper.
Waseda University said in a statement on Wednesday that research shows that “microplastics are ingested or inhaled by humans and animals alike and have been detected in multiple organs such as lung, heart, blood, placenta, and faeces”.
“Ten million tons of these plastic bits end up in the ocean, released with the ocean spray, and find their way into the atmosphere. This implies that microplastics may have become an essential component of clouds, contaminating nearly everything we eat and drink via ‘plastic rainfall’”, the university said in announcing the new research findings.
Emerging evidence has linked microplastics to a range of effects on heart and lung health, as well as cancers, in addition to widespread environmental harm.
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This would be a great plot for a movie. The organisms thrive on our pollution but in a sad twist of fate produce gas that we are unable to tolerate and all die off
It was mentioned in the novel "Ringworld" which was written in 1970. (Spoilers for a 53 year old book) One of the characters postulates that a bacteria could have evolved to eat room-temperature superconductors on the Ringworld. Another charachter replies that something similar had taken place on Earth, where a bacteria evolved to eat polystyrene.
Sounds like Death Stranding except less dangerous
Fingers crossed. If they were able to eat plastic as thick as a water bottle that would be a game changer.
Microplastics seem to be in everything. When they're doing these studies, do you think they have adjust for some measure of microplastics that exist on the equipment?
They found them in the Mariana Trench of all places, I think I recall them being found on Everest too but the plastic clad corpses of dumbasses who thought it would be an adventurous jaunt are probably the cause.
The on-the-equipment angle is interesting and sounds like it would be a good meta-study. “Just how many microplastics are on our microplastic detecting tools”.
It's somewhat concerning when our scientific study results resemble old National Enquirer headlines. "Microplastics invaded my baby!" Mommy Moo Juice not Even Safe!!!
At this point the only hope we have as a species is we're still evolving rapidly enough to handle the toxins we've been blessed with by capitalism and maybe they won't kill off every last one of us.
It isn’t killing us quickly, but it already is killing us. I doubt that evolution can solve the issue of dying a decade or two earlier, seeing as those of us that reproduce do so a decade or two before that point. It’s not evolution that can save us, it’s revolution.
Fuck it. I give up.
Great job everyone
It is tragic, but we mostly didnt know.
Now that we know we should do something about it like banning microfiber and plastic clothes. I wonder how long actions like that will take.
But the economy!!
Wait what? Companies just discover 3% rEcYclEd plastic as a way to green wash their products!!! You can't just take that away!!
There's an interesting academic book called Climate Leviathan that investigates four different ways in which the governments of the world might evolve into a single global government as the climate crisis intensifies. Interesting read, but it deals with topics like this.
Humanity is a plague
I heavily emphasize with this, but I must reject it and call it out as the nihilism it is.
Humans have lived in harmony with nature before, we can do so again. We can do it better than before too.
Capitalism is the disease, the primacy of the individual over the collective whole is the plague. If we were unified and dedicated to the collective good we would act differently and achieve different results.
Today, in this context, a single person can achieve great wealth and comfort by fucking the environment, robbing workers, and giving exactly zero shits about externalities that aren’t legislated.
That is the a key component of the locust like behavior those with power engage in.
Just because the present is a fuck, does not mean humanity as a whole is a fuck.
Thank you for coming to my rant.
I think you meant "empathize" rather than "emphasize".
Also - the core problem here is human greed. It's another example of Tragedy of the commons.
Sorry to squash your optimism but people really are the problem.
Sadsack nhilists are a plague.
Oh great. They fly now?!?
They fly now!
Not even the clouds are safe!
Need Thanos to snap all platics out? Or at least half.
So humans are fucked from the moment they take their first breathe. Are there microplastics in the womb as well?
Yeah :( It’s been found to cross the placenta into unborn babies.
i found this to be an interesting talk by a specialist on the way risks from these things are ranked and where the state of currect research is: https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=vocvz6N6faI
the important takeaway for me was that "micro"plastics aren't exactly microscopic