The journey of one thread of plastic from your washing machine to your dinner

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Dear Friends,

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(02:07) Charles weighs in on Professor Weiss’s “US Divorce” proposal – LISTEN
(08:59) Trump reinstates fitness test for school children – LISTEN
(13:08) Attempted murder of a city councilman spawns hateful comments – LISTEN
(21:24) CO2 pipeline update – LISTEN
(23:03) The journey of one thread of plastic from your washing machine to your dinner – LISTEN
(28:43) The EPA joins the ranks of climate deniers – LISTEN
(31:54) We’ll be the ones on the hook for Trump’s tariffs – LISTEN
(40:21) Trump moves nuclear subs closer to Russia – LISTEN
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(53:39) August garden Q & A, with Kathy Byrnes – LISTEN

[REMINDER TO DES MOINES FOLK ABOUT THE AUGUST 7 HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION, 7-9 PM AT THE JAPANESE BELL ON THE STATE CAPITOL GROUNDS.]

The Guardian is one of the few mainstream news sources I almost always appreciate. I was particularly impressed by The Guardian’s recent account of how a thread of microplastic finds its way from your washing machine to your dinner. The story is clever, informative, and deeply disturbing. Read the full story here, and/or check out these key quotes from the story:

The story starts with a single thread of polyester, dislodged from the weave of a cheap, pink acrylic jumper [i.e., sweater] as it spins around a washing machine. This load of washing will shed hundreds of thousands of tiny plastic fragments and threads.

Along with billions of other microscopic, synthetic fibres, our thread travels through household wastewater pipes. Often, it ends up as sewage sludge, being spread on a farmer’s field to help crops grow.

Spread on the fields as water or sludge, our tiny fibre weaves its way into the fabric of soil ecosystems. A worm living under a wheat field burrows its way through the soil, mistaking the thread for a bit of old leaf or root.

With the plastic in its gut, the burrowing earthworm will find it more difficult to digest nutrients, and is likely to start shedding weight. The damage might not be visible but for insects eating plastic has been linked to stunted growth and reduced fertility; and, in animals, problems with the liver, kidney and stomach. Even some of the tiniest lifeforms in our soil, such as mites and nematodes – which help maintain the fertility of land – are negatively affected by plastic.

[A] hedgehog snuffles through a dozen invertebrates in a night, consuming plastic fibres within them as it goes. One of them is our worm.

Birds that eat insects are also ingesting plastic via their prey. A study earlier this year found for the first time that birds have microplastics in their lungs because they are inhaling them too.

At the top of the food chain, humans consume at least 50,000 microplastic particles a year.

They are in our food, water, and the air we breathe. Fragments of plastic have been found in blood, semen, lungs, breast milk, bone marrow, placenta, testicles and the brain.

Yeah, that’s quite a journey. It’s crystal clear to me that we have to end our dependence on fossil fuel, not just because of the climate crisis but because of how plastics are compromising all levels of life on Earth, including ours.

One thing Kathy and I are trying to do more regularly is always bring our non-plastic cups and utensils to events that involve food and drink typically served in single-use, disposal plastic. It’s a small thing, but as each of us becomes more conscious of how we contribute to the plastic problem, and as we make changes in our own lives, momentum will grow.

Eventually, hopefully soon, we’ll need governing bodies at all levels to use their entire tool chest of sticks and carrots to move us collectively beyond our deadly reliance on plastic.

​​​​​​​Thank you for reading, listening, and speaking out.

Ed Fallon

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