3 Unexpected Effects of Plastic Pollution

You probably already knew that plastic can be bad, but scientists have taken a closer look, and found out it can be bad in surprising ways.

Happy Earth Day! After watching this video, check out our Earth Day play list, which features episodes about our world, and how we're handling some of our biggest problems.

Hosted by: Hank Green

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[omnitoad]

Plastic, the gift that keeps on giving.

[uplink-on-yt]

"I'm a Barbie girl
In a Barbie world
My brain is plastic
I feel fantastic"

[thatcoolnerd]

This is by far the most terrifying and depressing thing I've learned in at least the past 6 months. Like holy crap I knew plastic pollution was bad but this is just absurd

[lemonrose]

Just a PSA reduction of plastic use is the best and most viable way to have less plastic on the planet. Recycling and reusing isn’t as viable as they are more energy intensive and you still have plastic being produced/in cycle. So please use less plastic every little bit helps raise awareness.

[RiggingDoctor]

When we sailed across the Atlantic, we were becalmed in the middle for a few days. The ocean surface went glassy calm and the entire surface was covered in a snow of microplastics. I took a water sample and it was the top two inches of water as far as the eye can see! It was sad to see.

[freedapeeple]

One of the most durable class of materials we have and we use it for one-use throwaway items... smh

[christopheb]

I wonder how much plastic the average person has in them as well as would like to know if there are different effects from different plastics. What type of plastic were these nanoparticles and do they break down to the same things? I wonder if plastics are similar to anything our body uses and would be substituted for any processes ex like different elements were fluoride will be used instead of calcium or similar to any hormones or neurotransmitters that would act like a drug or if it interacts with any enzymes that would an inhibitor.
Also I wonder if these particles interact with cells themselves like disrupt the cellular machinery

[Sciencerely]

I think that genetically-modified microorganisms and mutated proteins could be a thrilling solution to solve the plastic waste issue (to some degree at least)! Just this month, an enzyme (a protein which converts specific compounds) called LLC was mutated by scientists and became very efficient in breaking down PET (would love to make a video about that myself some day). Of course, only time will tell how efficient this approach will be for recycling but it would be amazing if we could use such technology!

[Baby_boodle]

Heck I really feel like a crucian carp lately.

[glenngriffon]

SciShow - for your daily dose of informative terror.

[graemesydney]

Gee, as though covid wasn't depressing enough.

[goldwinger]

My computer keyboard is made of plastic. Much of my car is plastic. My phone is plastic. Try buying food without plastic. To make things even more interesting, in my area they stopped taking glass for recycling. Glass is far more recyclable than plastic.

[giorgiolimblici]

so we are all going to die because we ate "healty" nanoplastic filled fish. Wow that statement has deteriorated quickly!

[CJXXxxUnknown]

As if Covid-19 wasn't already something to worry about, now we've got to worry about plastic in our brains.

[idunno]

Ways I know your CC are added instead of auto-generated: in your lead up to the outro the caption said "Today is Earth Day!" You didn't say it though

P.S. thanks for adding captions/being accessible :)

[HettesKvek]

Plastic is a good example that convenience isn't always good for us in the short term or long term.

[lrose]

Wow! Really crazy stuff...I try to limit my use of plastic all the time but I had no idea that it gets worse as it breaks down...this is scary stuff! Thanks for sharing!

[AdamIverson]

Seriously though, who the hell is responsible for dumping all these plastics into the ocean? We did our part by putting them in the trash can and even recycling bin. Normally, it goes to landfill, but how do they get ended up in the ocean?

[MelissaPerez]

Is no one going to talk about the fact that we have been consuming plastic nanoparticles and the fact that they could go into our brain is absolutely horrifying?

[georgf]

Fun fact: If you don't dump that stuff into the ocean, you don't need to clean it up later.