Plastic particles (微粒) have been found in even the most remote and seemingly-clean regions of the planet. These tiny particles have been discovered inside fish in the deepest parts of the ocean, peppering Arctic sea ice and blanketing the snows on the mountains between France and Spain.

“Households in Europe and North America are flooding the oceans with plastic pollution simply by washing their clothes,” scientists said after they did some research on microplastic found in Arctic seawater.

In the new study by the Ocean Wise conservation group and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, researchers sampled seawater from across the Arctic. They found synthetic (合成的) fibres made up around 92 percent of microplastic pollution. Of this, around 73 percent was found to be polyester, a strong material used to make clothes.

“The striking conclusion here is that we now have strong evidence that homes in Europe and North America are directly polluting the Arctic with fibres from clothes by simply washing them,” said lead author Peter Ross. He said the mechanisms for this remain unclear, but added that ocean currents appear to play a major role in transporting the fibres northwards, and atmospheric systems may also contribute.

Researchers collected near-surface seawater samples from a large area. They also analyzed some samples up to a depth of around 1,000 meters. “We found microplastic in all but one sample, showing the widespread distribution of this emerging pollutant,” said Ross.

“The clothing industry can do much to design more sustainable clothing, including designing clothes that shed less, ” said Ross, “while governments could make sure wastewater treatment plants have new technologies to remove microplastic and encourage innovation. Households can also play their part by choosing products made with more environmentally friendly fabrics and improving their washing machines. ”

Imagine a mass of floating waste is two times the size of the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than 678,000 square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big.

All together, this mass of waste flowing in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about 3,500, 000 tons. The waste includes bags, bottles and containers—plastic products of all kinds.

The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about 1,600 kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert, with light winds and slow moving water currents (流, 流动). The water moves so slow that garbage from all over the world collects there.

In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. Scientists say thousands of animals get trapped in the floating waste, resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The trash can also make animals feel full, diminishing their desire to eat or drink.

The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection (感染) of disease from polluted waste, and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic.

Its existence first gained public attention in 1997. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event. Five years earlier, another oceanographer learnt of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.

It’s hard to be a bird in a world which is in the charge of mankind.

You can hardly hear yourself sing, let alone hear the songs of your friends… and worst of all, you can’t hear a predator(捕食者). Noise is almost everywhere, especially noise from traffic.

Researchers have tried to study the influence of road noise on animals by looking at animals living near noisy roads.

“We figured out a way to have just the noise without any of the other effects of the road, and to do that we put many speakers in a forest where there was no road,” said Chris McClure, a biologist at Boise State University and The Peregrine Fund. He and his team carried out their experiment at a place popular with birds in Idaho as they fly south for the winter.

While the noise kept lots of birds away, some remained. But they had trouble putting on enough weight to support them in the next part of their migratory journey.

“They have to take food but they also have to avoid getting eaten by a predator. But these two things can’t be done at the same time because to eat, they have to look down, which means they aren’t looking at predators.”

And when it’s too loud, they can’t hear the alarm calls of other birds. So they have to waste time looking for predators instead of searching for food.

By 2050, it’s thought that enough new roads will be built to circle the planet more than 600 times. But there’s an easy solution to the noise problem—“Lowering speed limits does a lot.”

So next time you’re driving through nature, just slow down a little. It’s safer for you and the wildlife. And you can enjoy the view a little longer.