I'm always going on about the dangers of microplastics to anyone who will listen but I'm doubtful that "[putting] humanity on notice" will have any effect at all. If our global response to the existential threat of climate change is any indication, we may as well start taking bets on which will kill us first.

To make a sizeable dent in microplastics in our environment we'll have to rethink the entire concept of rubber tires, and that's gonna be a non-starter with the monied interests and their propaganda machines. Also, synthetic clothing is gonna be a big one. Getting rid of plastic straws and shopping bags infuriated so many people in my country, so that's gonna be crazy when people find out they'll have to do without stretchy clothing. (And the straw/bag thing was essentially a token effort given the vastly higher volumes of single-use plastic across the supply chain).

I don't mean to be a doomer about this - it's very important that scientists bring this to light if we want to have any hope of bettering our world. It's just frustrating feeling like I've been shouting into a void regarding this issue, even to those in my personal life.