Fish Food

I have always thought that fleeces were a very practical use for recycled PET bottles - warm, light, quick drying, comfortable... But, as usual, there is a downside. Recent scientific studies have shown an unexpected source for the rising amounts of plastics found in our oceans: microfibres from man-made fabrics like fleeces are finding their way into the sea - and therefore the food chain - via our washing machines!

 A new study has found that when you wash fleeces and other synthetic fabrics, miniscule threads of plastic seep through filters and escape into the environment. Browne, lead author of the new study, estimates that more than 65 percent of plastic debris in the sea is smaller than one millimeter in diameter - and scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about the harm these tiny bits might be causing. Marine microplastics can penetrate the cells of even the tiniest organisms, affecting the way they function and raising all sorts of health concerns for both sea creatures and the people that eat them. Moreover, plastic particles in the water are not only hazardous for their own potential toxicity but also because they adsorb the pollutants in the water around them.

Yet currently there are no requirements for manufacturers to test fabrics for their environmental impact or for filtration processes of waste water to eliminate this potentially damaging source of pollution.

“Consumers have the power when they go into a store to ask whether clothing has been tested for its impact on the environment,” said Browne. “If more and more consumers started doing that, it would then put pressure on the people who actually produce clothes to do something about it.”

 To gauge the extent of the microplastic problem, Browne and colleagues collected and tested sediment samples from 18 shorelines on six continents. Microplastics were not just ubiquitous, the team reported in Environmental Science & Technology. Concentrations were also highest in the most densely populated countries. Places that produce the most waste, in other words, suffer the most from their waste.

More food for thought about our dependence on plastics...

The time is right for air raids...

The air seen from the earth

Recent weeks have seen air pollution alerts in England and Wales, with Defra urging the public to take "sensible precautions". For more details see BBC news report. So now is the time to take very seriously the issue of safeguarding your future air supplies. Luckily I have already prepared the resources necessary to help you do this - visit flyintheface.com to find out how.

Air quality too poor in your area to go air raiding?
Then consider applying for one of my exclusive boxes of Fresh Air to tide you over...

And check out what's happening in Norwich this weekend:
Other/other/other have a organised a good clean run on 21st May to highlight the city's air quality as part of Invisible Dust, a project which “involves leading world artists and scientists collaborating to explore air pollution, health and climate change”, and which is taking place as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival....

Check out their websites here:
other/other/other blog
invisible dust

Sea of Napoli

We spent a wonderful few days in Dorset/Devon last weekend including a lovely time on the beach at Branscombe  - site of the MSC Napoli grounding in January 2007, resulting in the spillage of the contents of many of its 2394 containers into the sea and onto the shore...
What a contrast now (and with our North Sea beaches on the Suffolk coast - perpetual victim of huge quantities of shipping waste) : on my short walk on the beach I found only one piece of (visible*) marine litter, shown below.

* who knows what traces of other pollutants remain... according to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, about 150 of the Napoli's containers held "hazardous" substances including industrial and agricultural chemicals.
Despite this - and arctic water temperatures - we enjoyed a lovely swim... come on in the water may be lovely!!