The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has played a key role developing the science of climate modeling and the measurement of climate observations going back […]

Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.

An understanding of the relationships between plastics and plasticizers is vital in order to assess their environmental risk. We investigated spatial trends and relationships between microplastics and plasticizers in sediments of an urbanized estuary subject to contemporary and historic sources of contamination (Forth estuary, Scotland, UK). As such, this study represents one of the first to investigate the co-occurrence of emerging plasticizers, phthalates, and microplastics in an estuary system. We determined the concentration of 7 legacy (phthalate) and 3 emerging (adipate, terephthalate, trimellitate) plasticizers and 21 microplastic polymer types. The most abundant microplastics were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyurethane (PU), and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Plasticizers were dominated by diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), although emerging plasticizers (e.g., diethylhexyl terephthalate, DEHTP) were frequently detected at low concentrations (mean 7.3 ng g–1 ww). There was strong evidence that concentrations of microplastics and plasticizers were significantly lower in the outer estuary. However, we found no evidence for a spatial relationship between the concentration of microplastics and plasticizers at individual site level. Our results indicate that microplastics in the size range analyzed (∼25–1000 μm) may not be a good predictor of the spatial distribution of plasticizers in estuaries. This could result from release of plasticizers prior to plastic fragmentation and deposition and differences in transport and fate.

Pharmaceutical contamination in the environment poses a global concern, raising questions about potential implications for both ecology and human health. Unravelling the fate and exposure of these con...

Soil-biodegradable mulch films offer a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics in agriculture, especially where recollection or recycling are…

UNEP is the global champion for the environment with programmes focusing on sustainable development, climate, biodiversity and more.

PhD Project - Farming Futures: comparing regenerative and conventional practices on soil, chemical use, and ecosystems in a changing climate at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology - Lancaster, listed ...

BPA, a synthetic chemical used in production of plastics, found in baby products made by three big European brands

Exclusive: Luis Vayas Valdivieso says he is quitting for personal and professional reasons after reports of pressure behind the scenes

YouTube video by Center for International Environmental Law

The chemicals available on the world's markets are of enormous diversity. Their total number is estimated to be approximately 350,000; this high number is a huge challenge for the systems of chem...

Plastics treaty talks collapse at the end of the resumed fifth session of the negotiations (INC-5.2).