Help us Save Our Seas from the Microplastic Threat Our seas are facing an invisible enemy that we only recently began to understand: microplastics –

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Help us Save Our Seas from the Microplastic Threat

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Our seas are facing an invisible enemy that we only recently began to understand: microplastics – microscopic pieces of plastic that harm marine wildlife, but also humans. The Archipelagos Institute Microplastic Research Team needs your help in order to extend its ongoing research since 2009, and to understand the spread of microplastics in the seas, and its consequences on wildlife and human health. For this reason we launched a crowdfunding campaign (Crowdfunding Page) in order to acquire new laboratory equipment. These will allow us to assess with precision the dangers associated with microplastics.

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What is the problem?

Total global production of plastics has skyrocketed in recent decades, the largest part of which directly or indirectly ends up in the sea. Plastic comprises 60-80% of marine litter, and in 2012 approximately 165 million tons of plastic pollution was estimated to be in the world’s oceans. Visible plastic can possibly be collected; when, however, it has become invisible and uncollectable, plastic becomes a serious threat that is passed on to future generations. Until recently, it was considered that centuries were required to break down plastic debris. Recent studies have nevertheless proven this not to be the case: When plastic is discarded in the environment, it is degraded into small pieces and microscopic fibers within a few months or years (depending on the type of plastic). In the Mediterranean Sea alone, there is estimated to be 250 billion microplastic fragments!

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What are we doing?

Archipelagos was the first organization in Greece to start research in microplastics in 2009. Upon analysis of more than 1,000 samples from fish, marine sediment, seawater and others, not a single sample was found not to contain microplastic fibers. Worryingly, it was also found that some uninhabited islands of the Aegean had similar levels of microplastics as coasts near Athens.

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Archipelagos' crowdfunding campaign

These alarming results confirm that microplastics are a current and significant threat, present in the human food chain. In order to further our understanding on the consequences of microplastics, we aim with our crowdfunding campaign to gather €27,500 to buy new laboratory equipment: An FTIR Microscope Imager, a High Speed Centrifuge, Stereomicroscope, Lyophilizer, a Continuous Plankton Recorder (and to cover fuel costs for sampling).

However small or large your donation may be, it will bring us one step closer to facing the threat that microplastics pose to our seas. Support our efforts by following this link: Crowdfunding Page

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