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Plastic Air gives you a lens through which to “see” and to explore the plastic particles that are ever-present in the atmosphere around you.
Made to be durable, plastic does not just disappear when we dispose of it. Instead, it degrades into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics, which then end up within the air we breathe. While these particles are invisible to the naked eye, they’re there—and have real impact on the environment and human health. ①, ②
Background
Since the 1950s, the world has produced more than 8 billion cubic tonnes③ of plastic, most of which is never recycled. Since it is so durable and cheap to make, plastic composes most of the materials around us: clothing, homegoods, packaging, and more. But since it is so durable, plastic cannot ever fully break down.
What are microplastics?
Microplastics are microscopic fragments of plastic, generally defined② as being less than 5mm in diameter. Fibers, foams, shards, films: all have been identified by researchers④. While much is not yet known about how microplastics are created and deposited, one estimate suggests⑥ more than 1000 metric tons of microplastics fall each year over just western protected areas.
Where do they exist?
Hint: it’s not just cities.
In addition to various urban centres, a surprising amount of microplastics have recently been observed in remote areas such as the Pyrenees mountains⑤ and protected wilderness areas⑥ in the United States. This suggests that microplastics are pervasive; whether carried by wind or other weather patterns, microplastics travel far from their original place of from where they were discarded. Although more research is needed, microplastics are suspected to exist in all types of environments worldwide.
Once deposited, they enter an unending cycle through our atmosphere.
Plastic can be emitted to the environment from a variety of sources, whether from the source of the plastic production, litter or other mismanaged waste, or even doing your laundry. From there, they are transported through the atmosphere by wind, rain, and even snow. They transfer into lakes and rivers, ingested by humans and animals, and are absorbed into terrestrial and marine ecosystems, in both remote and urban locations.
How does this affect me?
While scientists are just beginning to understand the health and environmental effects of microplastic, we do know that plastic itself gives off harmful toxins and chemicals. It’s estimated that we ingest 74,000 and 121,000 microplastics④ every year, raising serious questions about these particles’ effect on our health, not to mention their impact on wider ecosystems.
The biggest risk is what we don't know.
Due to a lack of awareness and insufficient funding, not nearly enough research exists on microplastics. (It’s hard to feel threatened by something you can’t see.) We hope this experiment will help raise awareness for you to use less plastic, for governments to pass the right laws, and for scientists to get the funding they need.
Fig. 1: Microscope image of microplastics in atmospheric particulate samples. Pictured is a 140μm fiber and 30μm particle (right). (Source: WUSA9⑦, Credit: Janice Brahney, Utah State University)
About this website:
How does this website work?
Inspecting each particle gives you a sense for what it is made of, where it came from, and how far it’s traveled. Depositing within the air allows you to actively see how some every-day objects might break down. If you choose to look away (by selecting “don’t see”), the experiment presents plastics in their familiar forms—sometimes obvious and sometimes surprising — inviting you to inspect what they are made from.
Is this really what they look like?
Yes! Well, sort of. There are many types of microplastics that are identified with a microscope, including but not limited to granules, fibres, fragments, microbeads, and films. We've based the shapes you see here off of these microscopic classification. These plastics have also been found in all colors of the rainbow, including white, black and transparent. Lastly, their size ranges anywhere from under 10μm (the size of a red blood cell) to 5mm. Our visualization is abstracted, but based on real data.
How did we determine the behavior of these particles?
Due to lack of research, there is no one dataset that determines exactly how plastics behave in each weather pattern. However, we’ve used isolated studies to come up with the logic by which the plastics you see here behave. For example, the data for snow is based on a study from European & Arctic Snow⑧. The data for rural areas (both rain and dry) is based on studies from the Pyrenees Mountains⑤ and US protected wilderness areas⑥. The data for urban areas (both rain and dry) is based on a study from Paris, France⑨.
Fig. 2: Our legend for drawing the particles
We are not scientists, but we used research from these people and publications to help our work:
⑦ (TEGNA), Author: Travis Pittman. “1,000 Tons of Plastic Rain Is Falling across the US.” wusa9.Com, 13 June 2020, www.wusa9.com/article/news/nation-world/plastic-rain-protected-wildnerness/507-88434116-79bd-461c-bea6-69bdf71906de.(Available in the U.S. only)
A project by Giorgia Lupi
with Talia Cotton
and Phil Cox (Pentagram).
In collaboration with
Google Arts and Culture.
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