So Much Plastic in the Arctic Sea (Bloomberg Businessweek)

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Although the Arctic Ocean is considered one of the last pristine ecosystems on the planet, a Thayer School of Engineering scientist and her colleagues found that Arctic sea ice contains an enormous amount of plastic and synthetic particles, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

“I used to think of the Arctic sea ice as unaffected by manmade pollutants,” Assistant Professor of Engineering Rachel Obbard tells the online news site. “It’s not the case.”

The Thayer professor and her colleagues, reports Bloomberg Businessweek, write that “more than a trillion pieces of plastic may be released into the ocean over the next 10 years as global warming speeds the melting of the Arctic ice.”

Read the full story, published 5/30/14 by Bloomberg Businessweek.

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