Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation
Posted by Isem1969@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 24 comments
TheArcticFox444@reddit
How can we reduce our exposure to microplasics? Get rid of all household plastic? What?
Where, exactly, do microplasics come from? Trash? Shampoo bottle? Plastic food containers? Bags? All of the above?
switchsk8r@reddit
i know tires are a huge cause of microplastics but i dont see the world slowing down on car usage anytime soon unless we wanna rebuild countries. id be down but our gov'ts sure dont give a shit
TheArcticFox444@reddit
Tires are the cause? No wonder the government won't do anything about it. What can they do?
Recently, microplastics are being blamed for things like alzheimers and can be found in the brains of human fetuses. If true, the future of humanity is very doubtful indeed.
Nature's justice, I suppose. The brains we're so very proud of being destroyed by a product of those brains.
refusemouth@reddit
Millions of plants starving, or millions of people? People can just eat each other for a while. I'm sad about plants starving, though.
Bandits101@reddit
We’re rendering the planet inhospitable for alien invasion and takeover. If it means cutting off our noses to spite our faces, so be it.
TheWorldEndsin2035@reddit
At this point, I would welcome an alien invasion.
Overquartz@reddit
If only to laugh at those macho types thinking they can hfy against superior tech and likely advanced warfare tactics too.
Fox_Kurama@reddit
In fairness, those stories can be fun.
It is worth noting that some of the traits that make humans physically fairly high end are also the ones that drive up the resources required for a human to live. Humans waste water to cool our bodies to be able to basically outrun almost anything they want to chase, humans waste energy to keep our body a consistent temperature which is good for keeping it relatively always at the ready (in addition to being an immune reaction), humans' natural evolution prefers to eat fruit and meat, making them want to continue eating lots of them or high-resource-use foods that trigger the same brain chemistry, etc. To sum it up, humans are rather inefficient for the sake of performance.
A species that humans would physically kick the crap out of might have enough less of a resource load on their planets to get past the industrio-modern era into proper space exploration before their planet craps out, or could even keep their home world viable.
Arctic_Chilean@reddit
Aliens die due to microplastic poisoning
HardNut420@reddit
How do we actually fix the micro plastic problem like there are many problems in our society that the government refuse to fix but at least we have solutions for those problems we just refuse to take action to solve these problems so what's the solution for micro plastics that we probably won't do
Arisotura@reddit
wait a few million years after humans have gone extinct
AtrociousMeandering@reddit
Stop using the vast majority of plastics. They all break down under mechanical wear, most break down under UV and chemical exposure. Every time you drive your tires are shedding microplastics, every time you wash and dry clothes made of synthetic fabrics, microplastics.
Oh, and do that decades ago, because even if we stop using plastics right now, everywhere we can feasibly do so, there's so much in the environment already we're not going to get closer to normal levels for another couple of decades.
NotAnotherRedditAcc2@reddit
This reminds me of when I was a kid, and there used to be all of those cotton lobby commercials - you know, "the touch, the feel of cotton... the fabric of our lives." I used to wonder, "who is EVER going to use less cotton? EVERYTHING I WEAR is cotton." But now I realize that the same types of clothing are 50% plastic.
apwiseman@reddit
On top of heatwaves, unpredictable rainfall and seasons...yay for less food!!
DeleteriousDiploid@reddit
We've recently had the bathroom replaced because the council decided it was time to do so. ie. They have budget they want to use up or they get money from some pointless government initiative for 'modernising' houses.
The construction was so wasteful. Smashing a perfectly good sink up to replace it with one that is worse in every way. Replacing the toilet and bath for no real reason. At least I have a bathtub to turn into a planter now I guess.
The worst part though is the walls are now covered with plastic. I assumed it would be some plastic coating that just stuck on like vinyl flooring but no it's double walled PVC boards glued to the walls.
The builders who did all the work cut these boards with an electric saw without wearing a mask. Microplastics everywhere. I didn't realise that was what the white powder all over the floor outside was at first as I assumed it was just plaster.
They started with three or four large sheets of the stuff but the amount of offcuts from each is greater than the amount actually used. They were just going to scrap it so I kept it to build something in the garden. I cut one of the sheets down to store more easily just using a Stanley knife and a ruler. Dead easy to cut without producing any plastic dust and my cut is neater than their saw cut.
They don't speak much English but I think I'm going to have to try and communicate to them how bad for their health it surely must be to be cutting this stuff every day and breathing in all that powder. They do all seem to have really bad coughs but they do smoke a lot. Otherwise I might have to try and contact the council about it. This seems like it will be the new asbestos concern for builders in a ten years if they keep doing this.
InternetPeon@reddit
Microplastics are the confetti of the apocalypse.
Collapse_is_underway@reddit
Damn I really like this idea. I'll add it to my "how to laugh in the face of collapse" to counter "I want to scream so loudly why aren't we adapting locally, AAAAAAAAAAAH".
Grand-Leg-1130@reddit
I wouldn't worry, the rich are still getting richer.
dennys123@reddit
Oh good, i was concerned for a moment
SergeantIndie@reddit
Meh.
Climate change will get the plants first. This feels like a 50 years from now problem whereas Venus is 10 years from now.
DrInequality@reddit
Yup. And climate change will cause the starvation of billions.
car23975@reddit
I hope you all had fun. End times are finally here. Let's go!
StatementBot@reddit
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Isem1969:
Microplastic is everywhere. We find it in all animals on our body and even in our brain. This study now shows how microplastic can interfere with plant photosynthesis putting food security even more at risk worldwide. But of course even this won't be enough. Nothing is enough to steer us away from business as usual. The show must go on.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1j88tsu/microplastics_hinder_plant_photosynthesis_study/mh35ihy/
Isem1969@reddit (OP)
Microplastic is everywhere. We find it in all animals on our body and even in our brain. This study now shows how microplastic can interfere with plant photosynthesis putting food security even more at risk worldwide. But of course even this won't be enough. Nothing is enough to steer us away from business as usual. The show must go on.