Joseph Winters

Perhaps the most holistic solution would be to regulate and limit the use of plastics for clothing and laundry applications altogether.

When you think of plastic pollution, you might imagine ocean “garbage patches” swirling with tens of millions of plastic bottles and shopping bags. But unfolding alongside the “macroplastic” pollution crisis is another threat caused by much smaller particles: microplastics.

At the broadest level, Thompson, other scientists, and environmental advocates are supportive of measures to limit overall plastic production and ban the most problematic categories of plastic, both of which would indirectly reduce the generation of microplastics.

The stakes of this academic debate are high: If decoupling is a mirage, then addressing the climate crisis may require letting go of the pursuit of economic growth altogether and instead embracing a radically different vision of a thriving society