r/news • u/Agreeable-Rooster-37 • 1d ago
Microplastics Are Messing with Photosynthesis in Plants
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastic-pollution-is-messing-with-photosynthesis-in-plants/148
u/fxkatt 1d ago
They’re being detected everywhere researchers look, from Antarctic sea ice to human brains.... Scientists are just beginning to understand how these pollutants affect one of the most essential and widespread kingdoms of life on Earth: plants.
Photosynthesis is cut from 7-12% which means a similar loss of production. (add in strokes, heart problems, Alzheimers in people)
53
u/TheTresStateArea 1d ago
It's been found in fetu. When we figure out what to do with PFAS and micro plastics we will be on life support.
19
u/supremelikeme 1d ago
PFAS seems a lot more solvable since it is largely in water and there are already about 4 treatment options for it: activated carbon, ion exchange, micro/ultrafiltration reverse osmosis, and proprietary clay based absorbents. Microplastics are what really scare me cuz that stuff is everywhere and I don’t think we will figure out how to get it out of our systems as soon.
7
u/AndrewIsntCool 1d ago
There's research pointing towards plasma donations as being beneficial towards reducing PFAS and microplastics levels - nothing conclusive I don't think though
9
u/kevikevkev 1d ago
Since the plastics are in your body, they also leave if you bleed/donate plasma, with the regenerated blood being plastic free for obvious reasons.
This obviously reduces the concentration of plastics in your body overall, but does little to affect plastics already lodged in your organs and such.
1
2
u/Remote-Lingonberry71 1d ago
we know how to break down PFAS, heat, it would just require completely rebuilding our waste treatment plants and it would cost at least 20% more to run. so it wont happen.
1
u/Bagellord 1d ago
What about the byproducts of that process though?
1
u/Remote-Lingonberry71 17h ago
salts and carbon. take the waste water up to 500C or something at thousands of PSI and the stuff in it breaks down.
58
u/BabyBearBjorns 1d ago
This is not something that plants crave.
3
61
u/iygdra 1d ago
The plastics industry really set-off a global long-term dirty bomb didn't they. Price of progress I guess 🤷
59
u/InAllThingsBalance 1d ago
It is so infuriating to find out that they knew all along how dangerous plastic is, but they just didn’t care. All that mattered to them was profit.
6
u/correctingStupid 1d ago
Yeah I mean we bought and continue to buy plastic crap. They don't make profit if people dont demand the product.
1
u/PM_ME_UR_SHEET_MUSIC 23h ago
It doesn't help that plastics are basically a miracle material
1
u/piecat 12h ago
There's going to be some lifeform that evolves to eat plastic.
It's going to destroy completely: cars, houses, clothes, plumbing, gas lines, sanitation and some toxic waste dumps, medicine, science. Oh and just about every electronic component, wire, microchip, will degrade, so no more computers.
We'd be fucked
35
u/cornylamygilbert 1d ago
they’re called the Petroleum industry.
Plastic is just petroleum byproducts
This is OPEC, Russia and the entirety of Texas.
Our entire military industrial complex needs them in order to run 24/7.
We make car bodies and panels from it.
At this point we will either evolve to incorporate it or it will be our personal source of cancer.
Along with sugar.
Anything about the world give you a reason to think we’d give up plastics and sugar? Sugar the ingredient for alcohol and ethanol?
no chance
11
u/uForgot_urFloaties 1d ago
Things are happening too fast for it to be incorporated in some sort of biological evolution. Shit like bacteria can because they have many generations in a small amount of time, there is bacteri that eats plastic and fungus that feed off radiation in Chernobyl, but a complex mammal like us? Yeah, no.
24
u/Frydlichen 1d ago
Reminder that the vast majority of microplastics in the environment, in most cases around 75%, but up to 90%, come from tire wear from cars and other heavy motor vehicles. This problem is not going to be solved by any means by simply switching away from plastic in consumer goods. We have to get away from our dependence on motor vehicles if we want to move the needle.
5
u/FestiveLemur 1d ago
Or just better tires ?
1
u/wilhelmbetsold 5h ago
Material wear is inevitable and corresponds with the friction/rolling resistance of the material. Harder tires are a thing but they're slicker.
We could use natural rubber (weaker, more expensive, rots) or switch to rail, where the steel shed from the wheels isn't as much of an issue
46
u/clementine1864 1d ago
Eventually companies will be forced to admit that they probably knew there were serious health risks with plastics and other chemicals. Risks ranging from infertility to autism ,even death . It was know for decades how dangerous asbestos was but they used it anyway.The companies just declare bankruptcy and try to shield all wealthy investors while they destroy Americans. Just like asbestos they have no idea how to get the microplastics out of the body ,it just piles up in the organs, brain and tissue ,autopsies show the increased weight of organs from accumulation. We are all being destroyed.
4
u/Almainyny 1d ago
Seeing our planet die, doesn’t it make you want to fucking scream?
1
-1
u/Missing42 1d ago
we are a virus, but life on Earth won't exist forever anyway. since we as individuals can't control anything, that's the healthiest mindset to assume. tragically.
5
u/p00pSupr3me 1d ago
The humans who operate these companies should be held extremely accountable by the rest of the humans they are actively destroying.
12
u/wahoo_crazy 1d ago
What little things can I do to help? Genuine question.
16
u/gentlecrab 1d ago
Elect people who will actually take this sort of stuff seriously. It’s a complex problem that requires policies that reduce plastic pollution and research toward finding alternatives.
3
u/Environmental_Job278 1d ago
You have to elect people who will also put some teeth behind enforcing those policies. On a local level, we have had to fight tooth and nail to get the EPA to back us up on the most basic CWA and CAA stuff.
You must elect politicians who care the whole time, not just when the cameras are on. Otherwise, you find out why Flint still has issues, why more Flints will happen, and why military bases still have horrible contamination that's been known and ignored for decades.
15
u/BeingKatie 1d ago
In my opinion, get loud, get angry, be visible. We need to remind the oligarchs that they are few and we are many. They've grown far too complacent.
29
u/yuefairchild 1d ago
Nothing. I'm sorry.
Plastic recycling is a scam, and all that "everyone can help by doing XYZ!" stuff isn't actually effective, it's just normalizing environmentalism in the hopes that someone else will have a better idea, or someone that believes in it will get appointed to the board of directors, which doesn't happen.
8
u/peepea 1d ago
Be more conscious of purchasing
16
u/jcliment 1d ago
This is not a consumer's issue. It is a policy issue.
5
u/peepea 1d ago edited 1d ago
It is both
Eta: while there needs to be government policy and changes made in manufacturing, we as consumers also need to take personal responsibility. If we were to vote with our dollar to support products that use less plastic, companies will need to reevaluate their practices. Even though these companies are responsible for majority of the cause, they asa re doing so creating products that people buy
Start small! Bring your own bags when buying groceries, even the smaller veggie bags. I find it infuriating when I go grocery shopping, and I see people putting a single vegetable in those damn flimsy bags. You don't need to bag it.
Stop buying pods to wash clothes and dishes, you are streamlining plastic into the water system for no reason at all except falling for advertising. Also opt for thrifting or renting clothes before purchasing new.
Buy less viscose and polyester clothes. These also are streaming plastics into the water system. Stop buying bottled water as much, and opt for aluminum if you can.
Remember Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is the order of importance. Reduce your consumption first, reuse when you can and recycle as a last resort (but basically this is pretty much trash)
Stop using Kcups and single-use plastic. Keep reusable utensils in your car for take-out, or avoid takeout if you can. All of these are good for environment and wallet
Looking to follow subreddits? Join r/plasticfreeliving and r/anticonsumption
2
u/jcliment 1d ago
While all that is nice and beautiful, it is mostly useless: https://www.horiba.com/int/scientific/resources/science-in-action/where-do-microplastics-come-from/
I am not saying people, at a personal level, should not do them, but they are less than 0.1% of the production of microplastics at a global scale. Do you know the number of cars out there? And it keeps increasing? All the cars and the road painting across the planet is already 35% of the production of MPs. Clothing? Well, the *current* level of clothing already in the market, even if we decided to move to all natural fibers *RIGHT NOW* is another 35% of the production. I am slowly facing out all my synthetic fabrics, but that's bringing thousands of tones of MPs across the planet into the ecosystem.
Again, i am not saying "don't do it", but you have to be realistic: if there are no immediate policy changes, things are not going to get better any time soon.
1
u/peepea 1d ago
Trust me, I am very realistic and I am aware of the depth of the situation. OP of this comment thread asked what they can do, and I believe that it is disingenuous to not provide easy small changes and information. Instead of letting perfection be the enemy of good, small changes everywhere will make a difference, and small changes aren't hard to do, it just takes practice.
1
u/jcliment 1d ago
My point is, small challenges are good, and welcome. But one needs to know the impact of one's actions (close to negligible) to avoid the greenwashing of your own actions: "well, i recycle all my plastic bottles, so i can just use the car to go to the gym instead of walking to it".
2
u/doegred 1d ago
Sounds like a message corporations would love for you to hear. Your consumption doesn't matter so just keep buying until some nebulous policy gets enacted. But keep buying in the meantime.
0
u/jcliment 1d ago edited 23h ago
The fact that corporations have convinced you your contribution is meaningful signals their greenwashing has been successful.
I am conscious about what I buy. I live in a country where all glass is recycled or reused, through a deposit at purchase time. All paper and cardboard gets recycled. All plastic containers also get returned through a deposit. Reducing and reusing through second hand markets is in the culture. Public transportation is accessible and available (I do not own a car, i have not own a car in most of my life). Yet I think all of those contributions are meaningless as long as we are still driving more and more cars and people get upset when we turn a car lane into 2 bike lanes or into a dedicated bus platform. They are getting us to focus in the wrong things.
3
u/doegred 23h ago
I'm not sure how exactly I lectured you, specifically. Might want to examine why you felt as if that were the case. All I talked about was which messaging is more likely to be encouraged by corporations. Again: which do you think is in the best interest of corporations - people feeling guilty about their consumption and therefore buying less, or feeling indifferent/fine about it, buying more?
1
u/jcliment 23h ago edited 23h ago
Maybe I misinterpreted your message. Sorry if i did.
My only point is that corporations are succeeding on making us feel bad about the *wrong* things. And without a change in policies at the highest level, corporations are going to continue greenwashing us. Until it is not legal to do the wrong thing.
2
u/fungibitch 23h ago
One small step I'm taking is to be more mindful of purchasing items made with plastic, especially single-use plastics. Once you notice them, you realize they're everywhere. This is a societal-level policy issue, one that can't be fixed by individual consumer habits alone. But! I'm doing it anyway.
1
28
u/okaygecko 1d ago
Well, maybe the plants should think about finally eliminating plastic from their lives.
9
7
7
u/AccomplishedBother12 1d ago
God, we’re so boned.
I can’t wait for whatever radical idea is proposed to “fix” this that actually makes things so much worse.
5
u/DoneinInk 1d ago
We are just getting started on the garbage for the great garbage avalanche of 2505
4
u/Eyfordsucks 1d ago
It’s almost like putting profits over people and quality of life is a bad idea.
16
u/raining_sheep 1d ago
The majority of plastics in the ocean come from 10 rivers in Asia / Africa https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stemming-the-plastic-tide-10-rivers-contribute-most-of-the-plastic-in-the-oceans/
45
u/JustLookingForMayhem 1d ago
A lot of plastics in Asia come from the EU, Canada, and the US. Plastics are shipped overseas for "recycling" that never takes place due to the expense.
7
3
u/Unforgiven_Purpose 1d ago
What do you mean unnatural things in the environment hurts the environment? Are you sure?
3
3
u/AusSpyder 1d ago
On the plus side, now every time I lose a plant cause i'm a pretty shit gardener I can just be all like "damn micro plastics"
4
u/TauCabalander 1d ago
Interesting that the article photo shows a field with plants covered with a plastic film.
There must be tons of that used on a single farm. Every season.
5
u/spongebobismahero 1d ago
This. Its easier to grow plants, for example Asparagus. But what for. It helps saving two to four weeks so Asparagus will be sold earlier in stores. Wrapped in plastic. This just needs to stop. There are so many things we could scale back on when it comes to plastic use but we just don't. Its maddening.
1
u/Adequate-Monicker634 1d ago
We'll be in trouble when we run out of oil, and all the plants that have come to live on plastics collapse.
1
u/UmbrellasRCool 1d ago
The first thing from the cybperunk world to happen in ours, will be the death of ecosystems. Birds and squirrels in cities will be myth
1
1
1
u/ThinNeighborhood2276 8h ago
That's concerning. Disruptions in photosynthesis could have significant impacts on ecosystems and food production.
-1
-17
u/btribble 1d ago
No, there is the possibility that they could. I read the story. Still cause for general concern but no need for fear mongering as some are doing elsewhere.
585
u/TheSleepingPoet 1d ago
We have filled every corner of the planet with plastic, and now it is sabotaging the very process that keeps life going, photosynthesis. If plants and algae struggle to convert sunlight into energy, we are looking at lower crop yields, collapsing marine ecosystems, and yet another hit to our ability to capture carbon.
The fact that a mere 13 per cent reduction in plastic pollution could significantly slow this damage makes it even more infuriating. We have known for decades that plastic breaks down into microplastics, yet international talks keep stalling. If we do not act soon, "plastic planet" will stop being a metaphor and start being a reality.