A closer look
The incredibly humble garden worm is inadvertently acting as a highly efficient, subterranean delivery system for humanity's most persistent and invisible plastic trash. Lumbricus terrestris earthworms naturally ingest soil and decaying leaves, but they are now gobbling up microscopic shards of car tire rubber and synthetic clothing fibers raining down from the atmosphere. By digesting and pooping out these toxic microplastics deep underground, the worms are accidentally weaponizing our pollution, dragging it straight into the sensitive agricultural root zones where our food grows.
