Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time

This year, India and the United Nations (UN) are jointly hosting the global World Environment Day celebrations, with ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ as the central theme. There is no reason to celebrate, really. Recently there was alarming news of how we are ingesting plastic nanoparticles in the food that makes it to our tables. It’s time to fix the problem but where do we even begin?
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
Published: Jun 5, 2018
Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time

Image by : Jessica Hromas/Getty Images

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  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
  • Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
Dutch conceptual artist, Florentijn Hofman's playful floating duck sculpture called 'Spreading Joy Around the World’ arrived in Hong Kong in May 2013. The 16.5-metre high rubber duck, constructed with more than 200 pieces of PVC, had travelled to 10 countries and 12 cities by then. “So much of the ocean feels really inhuman” the writer Donovan Hohn was quoted as saying, “so a toy duck washing up on a beach humanises it.” That’s precisely what happened to over 7,200 yellow ducks in 1992. They were among a consignment of 29,000 bathtub toys (headed for the US) that spilled from a Chinese cargo ship during a storm in the North Pacific Ocean. Some of the the ducks landed in Hawaii. Others traveled over 17,000 miles, spent years frozen in Arctic ice to reach the British and Irish shores 15 years later in 2007.