Mountain High

Having already been located in the deepest depths of the oceans, microplastics have now been recorded a few 100 m from the 8850 m peak of mount Everest (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/20/microplastic-pollution-found-near-summit-of-mount-everest). The pollutant was recorded in snow samples at every level from 5300 to 8440 m. Microplastics (presumably, blown by the wind and largely emanating from road traffic) have also been found on the peaks of the Swiss Alpes and the French Pyranees. If there is one thing that humans are really good at, it's polluting every far corner of the planet (from the lowest to the highest)! There is no such thing as 'pristine'.