this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
236 points (98.8% liked)

World News

38948 readers
1850 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The presence of tiny plastics in clouds risks the contamination of ‘everything we eat and drink’, researchers say.

Microplastics have been discovered in clouds, where scientists say they could be contributing to climate change.

Researchers found several types of polymers and rubber in the water in cloud water surrounding Mount Fuji, Japan’s biggest mountain, and Mount Ōyama.

Their study, published in the journal Environmental Chemical Letters, joins a growing body of evidence showing that plastic pollution has infiltrated most ecosystems on Earth.

Fragments of plastic smaller than 5mm (around the size of a sesame seed) have been found in the furthest reaches of the planet and most intimate parts of the human body, including the blood, lungs, and placentas of pregnant women.

"To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to detect airborne microplastics in cloud water in both the free troposphere and atmospheric boundary layer,” the scientists wrote.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The original post is discussing cloud formation not aerosol concentrations. Clouds can reflect solar energy away from us, but they can also maintain higher temperatures by acting like a blanket. Also, precipitation patterns will change even more rapidly and unpredictably. Again, we need more research on this specific phenomenon. Because it might become problematic.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

As is the link I posted, aerosols are the same thing, a suspension of particles

Recent studies reveal that tiny pieces of plastic are constantly lofted into the atmosphere. These particles can travel thousands of miles and affect the formation of clouds, which means they have the potential to impact temperature, rainfall, and even climate change.

Clouds form when water or ice condenses on “seeds” in the air: usually tiny particles of dust, salt, sand, soot, or other material thrown up by burning fossil fuels, forest fires, cooking, or volcanoes. There are plenty of these fine particles, or aerosols, in the skies — a lot more since the Industrial Revolution — and they affect everything from the quality of the air we breath, to the color of sunsets, to the number and type of clouds in our skies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You originally asked how cloud formation changes the climate and now you're answering your own question?

Whether it heats or cools the earth, it is still changing the climate. Either direction is a dangerous change that can rapidly deteriorate our already precarious situation in regards to climate change.

I don't understand what you're saying by posting these links?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm just doing further reading, and finding that it's such a tiny proportion of aerosols that it's likely to have minimal effect.

I like to understand the facts before claiming it's good, bad or neither