The Christian Science Monitor

Meet the nurdle hunter combing the beach for hidden pollution

This 3-mile stretch of sand and tide pools beneath a fortress of 80-foot bluffs is a California tourism poster if there ever was one. Nothing disturbs the pristine, sunny view, except – once you’re aware of them – the nurdles.

But you have to look close – on-your-hands-and-knees close – to see one. And once you do, you see another and another – so many that you may not think of this, or any beach, the same way again.

Mark McReynolds is trying to bring into focus these tiny preproduction plastic pellets that manufacturers melt down to mold everything from car bumpers to toothpaste caps. They’ve been escaping factories, container ships, trains, trucks

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor5 min readWorld
‘Divest From Israel’: Easy Slogan, Challenging For Universities
“Disclose. Divest.”  The rallying cry, echoing on many large campuses in the United States in recent weeks, represents a powerful new voice in a two-decade international movement to protest Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories through econo
The Christian Science Monitor4 min readWorld
Building Takeovers Push Campus Protests Into Volatile New Phase
The protest movement roiling college campuses across the United States appeared to enter a more dangerous phase Tuesday, as student demonstrators who had barricaded themselves inside a hall at Columbia University were arrested overnight by police in
The Christian Science Monitor2 min read
Trust Flows On A River Undammed
Earlier this week, the state of California stuck a shovel in the third of four hydroelectric dams being demolished on the Klamath River, which wends its way through Northern California from Oregon to the Pacific. Removing those structures is the firs

Related Books & Audiobooks