It’s a bird! It’s a Plane! It's Plastic in our Rain?
Trust me - I wish that sentence ended in Superman as well. But unfortunately if Gene was singing in the rain today, it wouldn't be as magical as in 1952. A new study done at Utah State University released in June of 2020 shows results of plastic in our rain. Wasn't it enough when a study released that humans eat the equivalent to a full credit card of plastic a week in 2019? We've had polluted rain in the past which probably resulted in the teenage mutant ninja turtles actually coming to life somewhere but is plastic rain the new acid rain?
Acid rain comes from a chemical reaction that begins when compounds like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released into the air (honestly I don't understand how there aren't more superheroes in the world as a result). This is mainly produced through the use of fossil fuels. Regulations and new technologies are helping reduce acid rain. This problem will continue to be alleviated as we switch to clean energy options.
Not only could plastic rain be the new acid rain, but it could actually be worse. Uhm Alexa, can you play The Imperial March? Microplastics to the environment are like glitter to a tired mom. Imagine trying to clean up the glitter from your 7 year olds craft - even with the best vacuum in the world, you'll still be finding it for months to come. That's how badly microplastics are affecting our environment. Scientists are finding microplastics that the wind and water cycle have carried over to some of the most protected areas on our planet. My questions are: where are these micro plastics coming from? How did we get to this point? What can we do to change our behavior to help our hydroclimate (and maybe stop ingesting toxic materials)?
I've learned that it is impossible to trace the origins of these tiny little particles, but almost anything that’s made of plastic could be shedding particles into the atmosphere. That can include plastics that have been treated with chemicals toxic to humans like fire retardants. Once those particles have been shed, lead researchers have found that they get incorporated into water droplets when it rains and therefore end up in our hydrologic system. I guess when we said it's raining cats and dogs - we were wrong in our predictions.
Although scientists have been studying ocean plastics for over a decade, they can only account for 1% of it. They know even LESS about the plastics in our freshwaters and air (which as we learned in my last blog is full of water) and haven't even began the quantification process.
Overall, we get it - pLasTiC i$ bAd. But what can we do to change our behavior to help our hydroclimate? Currently, it is unknown whether it would even be possible to flush all of the plastic out of our natural world (again, glitter) and if it is possible - it is unpredictable how long that could take. The sad truth is that even if a fairy godmother were to say “bibbity, bobbity, no more plastic” and the world stopped its production, it is still unclear how long it would take for it to stop circulating our water systems. Based on current scientific knowledge, it could take centuries if not a millennium.
So here are some unanswered questions currently being explored in my research - how might we change behavior to positively impact our hydroclimate? And how might we use this to explore new design opportunities to keep our waterways clean? What other natural factors are playing into this issue? But my biggest questions are how can I help our planet? How can WE help our planet?
If you’re interested in following along in my research to find sustainable design solutions to our hydroclimatology crisis, feel free to reach out and contact me here.