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We got rid of acid rain. Now something scarier is falling from the sky.

Here’s why you should never, ever drink the rain.

While precipitation has become less acidic, a growing body of evidence suggests that it’s now full of many other pollutants that pose a risk to public health, including microplastics. And unlike the compounds that cause acid rain, these pollutants are almost impossible to get rid of.

Over time, these modern-era substances — which famously take decades to millennia to degrade — have leached into the environment, reaching every corner of the planet, no matter how tall or deep. Microplastics, PFAS, and some other compounds, such as pesticides, are now so widespread

They’re so common, in fact, that they’re even found in the rain.

11 comments

  • We have two daughters. We had the first because we love each other deeply and want to share that with a family. Shortly after she was born the world was rocked by COVID and all the cracks became too apparent even through our lovebird haze. We love our daughter, but feared for her future, feared for her to be alone in this world without us one day. So we made the conscious decision to bring another person into this world just so that the first wouldn't have to be alone.

    It seems a terrible, selfish thing to do to condemn these two incredible, beautiful creatures to such a grim world. They deserve so much more, and my life is made so much happier for their smiles, and so very much worse when I read articles like this knowing what they will have to suffer. These poor babies deserve the lives we had as children, not this crumbling, cooking world.

    • It seems a terrible, selfish thing to do to condemn these two incredible, beautiful creatures to such a grim world.

      I'm hard pressed to point to a moment in human history when anyone could claim otherwise. But bringing people into the world and (much more importantly) raising and caring for and educating and loving them isn't something you do because utopia already exists. Its a passion project you pursue to make the world a better place.

      The vast, vast majority of the modern world is a human project. If your generation fucked it up a bit more than most (and, honestly, Millennials are beating themselves up far too unfairly if they think they've done a worse job in the last 30 years than their parents or grandparents did) then fix what you can, remind your children to love their neighbors and one another, and put the world in their hands when you're done.

      These poor babies deserve the lives we had as children, not this crumbling, cooking world.

      I think you will be surprised to discover how dire your parents viewed the world when they were your age. And even more surprised to discover how bright and beautiful your children view the world because you're there to show it to them.

11 comments