Canada

Oh boy! I wonder which form of environmental collapse will cause my death!

The two biggest sources of microplastics are car tires and clothing. If you care about reducing microplastics, you should try to not buy plastic clothing (polyester, nylon, etc.) and instead buy biodegrable fibers like cotton or wool. I don't know what to do about the tire thing except drive maybe drive less?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

About 90% of water samples taken over the last 10 years from the Great Lakes contain microplastic levels that are unsafe for wildlife, a new peer-reviewed paper from the University of Toronto finds.

The Great Lakes provide drinking water to over 40 million people in the US and Canada, hold about 90% of the US’s freshwater, and are home to 3,500 species of plants and animals.

The authors reviewed data from peer-reviewed studies from the last 10 years, which showed the highest levels are found in tributaries leading to the lakes, or around major cities like Chicago and Toronto.

Though myriad microplastic sources exist, wastewater treatment plants seem to be a major Great Lakes basin contributor, as they are elsewhere, Hataley said.

She noted concerning levels of microplastics have been found in sport fish consumed by humans and beer brewed with Great Lakes water.

Though Canadian and US governments have known about microplastic levels for at least 10 years, it can take time for regulators to act, and the new paper highlights the situation’s urgency, Hataley said.

I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Everytime I see microplastics mentionned it reminds me of that post that said that every generation had very toxic products that people just used and didn't know they were terrible, like asbestos and leaded fuel. Well for our generation it will be plastics that need to be eradicated! Then well find out another thing that is extremely toxic

The article doesn't specify what the impacts of these micro plastics are. What makes them unsafe?