Week 10 Novel Entities

Question 1

What are the criteria for a pollutant being designated a planetary boundary?

Answer 1

1. The pollution must be
   irreversible or very
   difficult to reverse
2. The disruptive effect
   is only detectable
   when it is a problem
   at the global scale
3. The pollution must
   disrupt Earth system
   processes

Question 2

What is a novel entity?

Answer 2

-new substances
-new forms of existence
-modified life forms that have the potential for
unwanted geophysical and/or biological effects

Question 3

How does pollution meet criteria 1?

Answer 3

Criteria 1: irreversible damage

estimated 90% of plastics have not been recycled
8 million metric tonnes of plastic enter the world’s ocean

Question 4

What are the “floating islands” of plastic?

Answer 4

plastic gets trapped in “gyres” giant loops created by the ocean currents.

“Great pacific garbage patch (GPGP)” is the largest garbage patch

ocean’s plastic: 20-30% comes from marine, but 70-80% comes from land

but GPGP’s 50% comes from marine due to intensive fishing

Question 5

Where does this plastic come from?

Answer 5

Packaging and inefficient waste management, not fully managed, land fills, mismanaged

The main source of marine plastic
pollution is coastal areas in
countries where waste is
mismanaged

Question 6

How does pollution meet criteria 2?

Answer 6

Criteria 2: only detectable when it is a problem at the global scale

-the concentrations of contaminants are homogenous
-the effects are rapidly distributed globally
-the effects are delayed
-the effects are only observable at global scale

Question 7

How does pollution meet criteria 3?

Answer 7

The pollution must disrupt an Earth’s process

Marine plastic pollution has direct effects on organisms, indirect effects as a vector/carrier and systemic effects that cascade across ecosystems

alterations to food webs, habitat, biogeochemical flow

Question 8

How is plastic pollution linked to climate change?

Answer 8

• Core pods ingesting microplastic: less feces settling in marine sediment –> altering carbon storage

-sunlight degrading plastics, more green house gases

-plastic floating in arctic interferes with ice formation

Question 9

How do we solve this plastic problem?

Answer 9

High impact priorities
-development of effective waste management
-cease plastic trade from rich to low or middle-income countries
-strict rules for fishing

Question 10

Explain at least one reason that a comprehensive set of planetary boundaries has not yet been defined for novel entities.

Answer 10

80% of chemicals have not been assessed for whether they are environmental threats.

Question 11

Describe impacts of plastic pollution (MPP) on each sphere in the earth system, and explain how MPP links to the Planetary Boundaries of biosphere integrity and climate change.

Answer 11

Biodiversity Loss: Entanglement, ingestion, and habitat disruption affect marine and terrestrial species.

Ecosystem Disruption: Alteration of ecosystems due to plastic accumulation.

Climate Change Link: Production and disposal of plastics contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.