As humans shift to a modern era, the overconsumption of plastic has been a huge concern. From polluting our environments and contaminating the world’s wildlife plastic has shown to be detrimental to the environment. A more prominent issue that the pollution of plastic brings to the table is the proliferation of microplastics, which have and was discovered that microplastics may have much bigger implications on the environment: the exacerbation of global warming.
https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/microplastics-a-growing-challenge-to-health-and-the-environment/
The Great Garbage Patch is a large island composed of trash within the Pacific Ocean and spans around 1.6 million square kilometers. Within the Great Garbage Patch, microplastic is created through rubbing against one another and through the effects of the climate. It is imperative to note that the Great Garbage Patch is a prominent producer of microplastics that are able to go airborne. As the microplastics go airborne, they are able to travel by riding the wind to spread into various regions in the world.
https://www.tetratech.com/projects/evaluating-the-risk-of-microplastics-in-coastal-waters/
According to a newfound study conducted by Yu Liu titled, “Atmospheric warming contributions from airborne microplastics and nanoplastics” delves into the contributions that microplastics have to global warming. Most studies regarding the microplastics are about the impact that the microplastic has to the health of ecosystems and ultimately how it affects human health. However, this issue delves into how the microplastics react with sunlight, and how various colors of microplastics may change this interaction. It was found that microplastics with color absorbed more than 75 times more sunlight than plastics without pigment. In addition, smaller nanoplastic are able to absorb more sunlight than their microplastic counterparts.
The Fudan University study examined that airborne microplastics contribute to warming at a level similar to 16% of the global warming contributed by black carbon like soot. Black carbon and the effect it has on global warming is substantial, the effect that microplastics have on the environment is not negligible.
With microplastics playing a huge role in global warming and its production accelerated with the exacerbation of global warming, this cycle causes a positive feedback loop where microplastics result in more microplastics being produced. The reflective nature of microplastics and global warming is alarming as is it impossible to tackle global warming without tackling the plastic pollution and vice versa.
Source:
https://www.ksl.com/article/51501551/hundreds-of-utahns-rally-against-proposed-box-elder-data-center
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