Pentagram partner Giorgia Lupi and her team have developed “Plastic Air,” a web-based, interactive experience that vivifies a type of pollution that most people don’t even know exists: airborne microplastic deposition, the result of ever-increasing global plastic production and consumption. The project was developed in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture and released to coincide with Earth Day 2021.
This interactive tool allows you to see what the plastic particles are in the air you breathe, what they are made of – chemicals and toxins, and where they came from. Place your mouse over a piece of plastic until the white box appears, then line up the white line with the center of the plastic object. You will see what it is comprised of, what its original source is; shower curtain, shampoo bottle, coffee cup…, and an estimate of how far it has traveled, many miles.
Click here “Plastic Air,” Give it a go!