Stockholm university

Chemical pollution exceeds safe planetary limit

The production and release of plastics, pesticides, industrial compounds, antibiotics and other pollutants is now happening so fast that it has exceeded the planetary boundary for chemical pollution, a new study claims. Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, explains what this means in The Conversation.

Chemical pollution
Photo: Gabe Palmer/Alamy Stock Photo, published in The Conversation


The article is published on January 20 and Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, a PhD candidate at Stockholm University, is one of the authors of the study.

In the article she says:
“It is difficult to say specifically when humanity breached the planetary boundary for chemical pollution. Unlike other boundaries, this one deals with thousands of different entities.
We know there has been a 50-fold increase in the production of chemicals since 1950. This is projected to triple again by 2050. Plastic production alone increased 79% between 2000 and 2015.”

Read the article published in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/chemical-pollution-exceeds-safe-planetary-limit-researcher-q-a-on-consequences-for-life-on-earth-175256

Read more about the collaboration between Stockholm University and The Conversation and how to pitch an article idea: https://www.su.se/english/staff/services/information-communication/pitch-an-article-idea-for-the-conversation-1.462268

More articles in The Conversation by researchers at Stockholm University: https://theconversation.com/institutions/stockholm-university-1019
 

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