Hello one and all!
Earth Day was celebrated yesterday, on the 22nd of April. The first Earth Day was in 1970, and twenty years later the event went global and it has gone from strength to strength since then. Ideally we should support environmental protection each day of the year but this is still an important reminder.
This year an environmental issue that has really come to the fore-the level of plastic in the ocean. The plastic problem is even worse than at first thought, it has been made clear that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean (by weight) if the accumulation continues at the same level.
The plastic refuse in the Pacific ocean is actually bigger than Texas, to give an idea of scale. We'll have to do a lot to reverse this trend, and at the moment 91% of plastic isn't being recycled. Many of the environmental issues we see today is as a result of decades of pollution and it will take a major effort to start to reverse it.
Thankfully science may be one factor that could solve plastic pollution. One of the problems with plastic is that it can stay in the environment for hundreds of years but scientists in Japan have identified a bacterial enzyme, Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, that could help with degrading plastic. This bacteria has been found to digest polyethylene terephthalate. This development could point to one future solution, though it is just one facet.
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great week!
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/21/17247994/earth-day-2018-plastic-climate-change
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/earth-day-then-now-history-science-spd/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/plastic-eating-bacteria-chemist-science-pollution-pet-recycling-a8311811.html
Earth Day was celebrated yesterday, on the 22nd of April. The first Earth Day was in 1970, and twenty years later the event went global and it has gone from strength to strength since then. Ideally we should support environmental protection each day of the year but this is still an important reminder.
This year an environmental issue that has really come to the fore-the level of plastic in the ocean. The plastic problem is even worse than at first thought, it has been made clear that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean (by weight) if the accumulation continues at the same level.
The plastic refuse in the Pacific ocean is actually bigger than Texas, to give an idea of scale. We'll have to do a lot to reverse this trend, and at the moment 91% of plastic isn't being recycled. Many of the environmental issues we see today is as a result of decades of pollution and it will take a major effort to start to reverse it.
Thankfully science may be one factor that could solve plastic pollution. One of the problems with plastic is that it can stay in the environment for hundreds of years but scientists in Japan have identified a bacterial enzyme, Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, that could help with degrading plastic. This bacteria has been found to digest polyethylene terephthalate. This development could point to one future solution, though it is just one facet.
Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great week!
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/21/17247994/earth-day-2018-plastic-climate-change
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/earth-day-then-now-history-science-spd/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/plastic-eating-bacteria-chemist-science-pollution-pet-recycling-a8311811.html
Comments
Post a Comment