VERMONT: Research featured by NSF for Earth Day
For Earth Day 2024, NSF highlighted five NSF-driven projects that look at the versatile material in both expected and unusual places and examine its impacts on the planet and the creatures who call it home. Of the five, one was an EPSCoR/IDeA jurisdiction. Anne Jefferson, a professor at the University of Vermont, and her team are using time-lapse photography and repeat field surveys to understand how discarded plastic moves through and sometimes stays in streams. Jefferson's findings will improve litter tracking models that follow plastic from streams to oceans.
Read more (#2, In urban streams)
Plastic is everywhere. Humans produce so much plastic that we end up throwing away about 400 million tons of plastic-related trash every year. And researchers are learning that this trash doesn't stay where it is deposited. From land to sea, plastic is found virtually everywhere on the planet.
Earth Day 2024 is highlighting the plastics problem with the theme: "Planet vs. Plastic." "Our reliance on harmful plastics is not sustainable," said Alexandra Isern, NSF assistant director for Geosciences. "We are committed to funding research that will address the plastics challenge to create a safer future for generations to come."