• Water

Comprehensive Mt. Everest Study Draws Attention to Human-Induced Damage

• Federated States of Micronesia
• glaciers
• microplastic
• Mount Everest

As National Geographic recently reported, on Friday new findings from the most comprehensive scientific expedition to Mt. Everest (known locally as Sagarmatha and Chomolangma) in history were released in the journal One Earth. This new research, part of the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, sheds crucial information about how climate change […]

• Land

Microplastics Pollution Found in Farm Soil

• farming
• microplastic
• plastic pollution
• soil

by Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer There is “a growing concern” over microplastics pollution in farm soils, Kate S. Petersen reported for Environmental Health News this week. Although we have long since known about the effects of microplastics in the ocean, this article showed that “most microplastics are actually accumulating on land, including agricultural areas.” […]

• Sustainability

Governments are Committed to Tackling Ocean Plastic, They Just Need to Stick to It

• microplastic
• Ocean Plastic
• plastic pollution

A recently released policy analysis from Duke University revealed that over the past decade, governments at every level have taken actions to prevent plastic waste from making it into the ocean. As Phys explained, the analysis finds, however, that the vast majority of new policies have focused specifically on plastic shopping bags and more data […]

• Ocean

Microplastic Pollution in the Ocean Is More Prevalent Than Previously Believed

• conservation
• environment
• microplastic
• ocean
• plastic
• science

We already know that microplastics (bits that are less than 5 mm) are omnipresent in the ocean, but now scientists believe that previous estimates about how much plastic is in the ocean are actually way too low. 

Why This Matters:  Microplastic is more abundant than the tiniest and one of the most abundant life forms in the ocean — zooplankton — if these estimates are correct.

• Sustainability

Our Oceans Are Spitting Up Microplastics Back at Us

• microplastic
• oceans
• plastic pollution

As the Ocean Conservancy explained, every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our marine environments. Many of these plastics are microscopic (smaller than 5 millimeters long) and are readily consumed by marine life as well as humans. Unfortunately, we […]

• Sustainability

Ocean Plastic Cleanup Device Up and Running After Previous Setbacks

• microplastic
• Ocean Plastic
• oceans
• plastic

Twenty-five-year-old entrepreneur Boyan Slat’s ocean clean up device is finally collecting trash after breaking apart late last year.

The Takeaway: This technology likely won’t solve the ocean plastic pollution crisis but the world is finally beginning to think through how we tackle our plastic addiction and that’s a good thing.