Plastics in the Clouds: A New Height of Pollution

We find plastics everywhere we look, from streets, beaches, and forests to the seabed and the Arctic ice. They could be bottles, bags, food containers, syringes, or candy wraps.

Plastics do not biodegrade; they just break down into smaller fragments over time, turning into ‘micro- and nanoplastics’.

Once synthetic polymers disintegrate, they can be dragged by water and wind because of their microscopic size.

And now, scientists have detected plastic particles in a new place: clouds floating above mountains.

The Sky is Not the Limit

A peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Chemistry Letters, the first of its kind, found that clouds around Japan’s Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama contain alarming levels of plastic.

Hiroshi Okochi, a professor at Waseda University and author of the investigation, pointed out that plastic pollution can reach long distances and contaminate the planet’s crops and fresh water through ‘plastic rainfall’.

The analysis showed that in the samples collected, the amount of man-made polymers was so high that researchers believe it might cause clouds to form while emitting greenhouse gases.

“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.”

https://todaysfocusofattention.com/microplastics-found-in-clouds/

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