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Post by abbey1227 on Dec 22, 2022 17:16:37 GMT
Environment
3 million bottles worth of microplastics falling on Auckland each year
By Nick Lavars December 13, 2022
The more scientists hone their techniques when it comes to studying plastic pollution, the more we understand about the way it moves through the environment, and it can often make for some uncomfortable reading. Researchers in Auckland have used advanced chemical analysis to calculate the amount of microplastic particles falling from the sky over the city, equating it to three million plastic bottles each year.
While plastic waste is generally understood to be widespread across the land and seas, scientists have recently started to drill into the ways it can get swept up in the air to travel far and wide. This can be facilitated by winds that collect plastic particles off the surface of the ocean and carry them into the atmosphere, with fragments turning up in Arctic and Antarctic snowfall a sign of the distances they can cover.
The new study, by researchers at the University of Auckland, adds new detail to our understanding of airborne plastic pollution, and suggests the situation is graver than we realized. Studies assessing the concentration of airborne microplastics in European cities have found that the average number of pieces detected per square meter in a day ranges from 100 to 700.
But using sophisticated chemical methods to detect and analyze particles as small as 0.01 mm, the Auckland team has landed on a much higher number – 4,885. The team used funnels and jars to sample the amount of microplastics falling from the sky over a nine-week period, with the majority of them too small to be seen with the naked eye. By applying a colored dye that emits light and a heat treatment to assess their mass, however, the team was able to identify and study them in fine detail.
Particles made of common packaging materials like polyethylene and PET are among the most common, along with polycarbonate used in electronics. According to the team, the findings suggest some 74 metric tonnes of microplastics fall out of the atmosphere and onto Auckland each year, the equivalent of more than three million plastic bottles.
“The smaller the size ranges we looked at, the more microplastics we saw,” said lead author Dr Joel Rindelaub. “This is notable because the smallest sizes are the most toxicologically relevant.”
Scientists are continuing to explore the issue of what microplastic exposure means for human health, but the particles have been found in stool samples, the bloodstream and in living lung tissue.
“Future work needs to quantify exactly how much plastic we are breathing in,” says Dr Rindelaub. “It’s becoming more and more clear that this is an important route of exposure.”
The scientists believe the particles fall onto Auckland as a result of waves crashing into the adjacent Hauraki Gulf, propelling waterborne microplastics into the air, with increased concentrations observed in the presence of stronger winds from that direction.
“The production of airborne microplastics from breaking waves could be a key part of the global transport of microplastics,” says Rindelaub. “And it could help explain how some microplastics get into the atmosphere and are carried to remote places, like here in New Zealand.”
The research was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Source: University of Auckland
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Post by Prometheus on Dec 23, 2022 2:12:12 GMT
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Post by merh on Dec 29, 2022 13:13:58 GMT
Holiday cheer  |
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Post by abbey1227 on Dec 29, 2022 14:26:42 GMT
Holiday cheer
My first thought was she shoulda told her employer to pound sand as the weather forecast was clearly calling for dangerous weather. I just had my Boss ask me to go pick up a fellow employee across town as the weather had gotten nasty and her car wouldn't start. I just said "No, a bit too risky for my taste." And the offer of merely 'staying punched in' wasn't anywhere near enough compensation for the risk involved, imo.
My second thought was she didn't protect herself after opting to go into work with extra clothing and blankets, water, food, etc
My third thought was trusting in Govt to protect you at all times. How many examples do we need to realize it'll never happen?
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Post by merh on Dec 31, 2022 5:51:18 GMT
Holiday cheer
My first thought was she shoulda told her employer to pound sand as the weather forecast was clearly calling for dangerous weather. I just had my Boss ask me to go pick up a fellow employee across town as the weather had gotten nasty and her car wouldn't start. I just said "No, a bit too risky for my taste." And the offer of merely 'staying punched in' wasn't anywhere near enough compensation for the risk involved, imo.
My second thought was she didn't protect herself after opting to go into work with extra clothing and blankets, water, food, etc
My third thought was trusting in Govt to protect you at all times. How many examples do we need to realize it'll never happen?
Like the Amazon warehouse in the Tornado? |
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Post by Prometheus on Dec 31, 2022 9:07:15 GMT
My first thought was she shoulda told her employer to pound sand as the weather forecast was clearly calling for dangerous weather. I just had my Boss ask me to go pick up a fellow employee across town as the weather had gotten nasty and her car wouldn't start. I just said "No, a bit too risky for my taste." And the offer of merely 'staying punched in' wasn't anywhere near enough compensation for the risk involved, imo.
My second thought was she didn't protect herself after opting to go into work with extra clothing and blankets, water, food, etc
My third thought was trusting in Govt to protect you at all times. How many examples do we need to realize it'll never happen?
Like the Amazon warehouse in the Tornado? ![[popcorn]](//storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/exzsggUOJCgWcIsKkEUU.gif) |
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Post by abbey1227 on Dec 31, 2022 13:58:14 GMT
My first thought was she shoulda told her employer to pound sand as the weather forecast was clearly calling for dangerous weather. I just had my Boss ask me to go pick up a fellow employee across town as the weather had gotten nasty and her car wouldn't start. I just said "No, a bit too risky for my taste." And the offer of merely 'staying punched in' wasn't anywhere near enough compensation for the risk involved, imo.
My second thought was she didn't protect herself after opting to go into work with extra clothing and blankets, water, food, etc
My third thought was trusting in Govt to protect you at all times. How many examples do we need to realize it'll never happen?
Like the Amazon warehouse in the Tornado?
I'd think a tornado is a bit less predictable than a massive winter snow storm that's predicted at least 3-5 days in advance.
Do we even know if a warehouse like that is required to have an Emergency Alarm hooked up to the local weather bureau?
That's my rebuttal to all of you warm weather livers that never understand how some of us put up with the cold and snow.........it's because our homes usually stay put under that blanket of snow........unlike with hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires.
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Post by merh on Jan 1, 2023 4:02:19 GMT
Like the Amazon warehouse in the Tornado?
I'd think a tornado is a bit less predictable than a massive winter snow storm that's predicted at least 3-5 days in advance.
Do we even know if a warehouse like that is required to have an Emergency Alarm hooked up to the local weather bureau?
That's my rebuttal to all of you warm weather livers that never understand how some of us put up with the cold and snow.........it's because our homes usually stay put under that blanket of snow........unlike with hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires.
So while we have earthquakes every day, most are the equivalent of a light breeze. A 3 or 4 likely gets felt in the vicinity, but 100 miles.away? That Amazon thing was they weren't allowed to leave, wasn't it? I learned to drive in Orem, Utah, dude. |
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Post by abbey1227 on Jan 1, 2023 4:07:41 GMT
So while we have earthquakes every day, most are the equivalent of a light breeze. A 3 or 4 likely gets felt in the vicinity, but 100 miles.away? That Amazon thing was they weren't allowed to leave, wasn't it? I learned to drive in Orem, Utah, dude.
Try to stop ME, as an adult, from leaving a place if I decide I don't wish to be there anymore. I dare you or anyone.
You should come and give lessons to the many drivers around here. I avoid the highways like the plague.  |
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Post by merh on Jan 1, 2023 20:00:38 GMT
So while we have earthquakes every day, most are the equivalent of a light breeze. A 3 or 4 likely gets felt in the vicinity, but 100 miles.away? That Amazon thing was they weren't allowed to leave, wasn't it? I learned to drive in Orem, Utah, dude.
Try to stop ME, as an adult, from leaving a place if I decide I don't wish to be there anymore. I dare you or anyone.
You should come and give lessons to the many drivers around here. I avoid the highways like the plague. Freeways are the only way to get around SoCal. Particular San Diego & all out canyons |
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Post by abbey1227 on Jan 2, 2023 10:32:59 GMT
Try to stop ME, as an adult, from leaving a place if I decide I don't wish to be there anymore. I dare you or anyone.
You should come and give lessons to the many drivers around here. I avoid the highways like the plague. Freeways are the only way to get around SoCal. Particular San Diego & all out canyons
You should call Elon Musk and ask him to drill some more tunnels near the surface  |
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Post by merh on Jan 3, 2023 16:09:20 GMT
Freeways are the only way to get around SoCal. Particular San Diego & all out canyons
You should call Elon Musk and ask him to drill some more tunnels near the surface He never volunteered to help with the high speed rail when he was here, did he? |
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Post by abbey1227 on Jan 3, 2023 16:12:28 GMT
You should call Elon Musk and ask him to drill some more tunnels near the surface He never volunteered to help with the high speed rail when he was here, did he?
oh, NOW you want things to be all voluntary, huh? |
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Post by permutojoe on Jan 8, 2023 1:38:44 GMT
This is like acid rain and ozone depletion combined.
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Post by merh on Jan 9, 2023 23:45:20 GMT
This is like acid rain and ozone depletion combined. Elon's going to Mars so he doesn't care about ruining Earth |
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Post by abbey1227 on Jan 10, 2023 2:57:09 GMT
This is like acid rain and ozone depletion combined. Elon's going to Mars so he doesn't care about ruining Earth
Elon is ruining Earth?
or people in general are? Time to give Wall-E a rewatch, perhaps?
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Post by permutojoe on Jan 22, 2023 18:28:10 GMT
Elon's going to Mars so he doesn't care about ruining Earth
Elon is ruining Earth?
or people in general are? Time to give Wall-E a rewatch, perhaps?
The folks at the top are, and he's helping. The rest of us don't have the ability to change anything because we don't have billions lying around to spend on it. |
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Post by abbey1227 on Jan 22, 2023 20:19:00 GMT
Elon is ruining Earth?
or people in general are? Time to give Wall-E a rewatch, perhaps?
The folks at the top are, and he's helping. The rest of us don't have the ability to change anything because we don't have billions lying around to spend on it.
Aside from private jet fuel.......... I'd suspect the poor are generating more than their fair share of pollution.
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Post by permutojoe on Jan 22, 2023 20:45:32 GMT
The folks at the top are, and he's helping. The rest of us don't have the ability to change anything because we don't have billions lying around to spend on it.
Aside from private jet fuel.......... I'd suspect the poor are generating more than their fair share of pollution.
Now you're an environmentalist? |
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Post by Prometheus on Jan 22, 2023 23:16:20 GMT
Aside from private jet fuel.......... I'd suspect the poor are generating more than their fair share of pollution.
Now you're an environmentalist? Only as long as he can blame "the poor" for it. |
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![[popcorn]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/exzsggUOJCgWcIsKkEUU.gif)
![[cheers]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/engyBVslEdpmpmdnBwZQ.gif)
