La era del plástico

Do you know who the hedgehog McFlurry is? Or that the misuse of plastic is not only a garbage problem even though each human being corresponds to about 40 kilos? Do you know the "techno-fossils"? Did you know that we make 500 million plastic bottles every year? And that underground microplastics could affect crops? Or that they reach places so remote that they even reach the fauna of the Amazon? The biologist Álvaro Luna, author of A Leopard in the Garden, takes us on a journey through our laminated planet, a world that surrounds us and that we hardly know. Plastic pollution has become an environmental problem of global dimensions. It damages ecosystems around the world, and can even affect different aspects of our daily life. This book is the first to scientifically explain what lies behind such a controversial topic. Plastic is a symbol of our civilization. It is moldable, light, elastic, cheap, and has properties that make it very useful as a thermal and electrical insulator; Furthermore, its application in the health field has saved an immeasurable number of lives. However, its indiscriminate use has had an impact on nature that only now we are beginning to see. Currently, tons of plastic -from millimeter pieces to others of tens of meters- are distributed throughout the world. The sea, the rivers and lakes, the land we walk on, the subsoil... the plastic seems to reach every corner of the planet, damaging many species, and in a way, ourselves. How far does its reach go according to science? Can we do something to reverse this problem?