Carbon Credits

(By Sasha Abelson, Guest Blogger to the Climate Program)

I have been searching for the right word to describe a particular phenomenon and concluded that such a word does not (yet) exist.  The phenomenon I am speaking of is as follows: upon becoming aware of a piece of information previously unknown to you, you become hyper-sensitized to that information.  You now to see it, hear it and read it everywhere.

Take the nurdle for example.  I had never heard the word until a scientist from Heal the Bay mentioned the nurdle in her lecture[i].  Nurdles are small plastic pellets which are melted down to create nearly everything made of plastic.  These nurdles escape from factories and often end up on beaches where they become a significant source of ocean and beach pollution.  Nurdles are frequently mistaken by marine life for fish eggs, and find their way into their digestive tracts causing starvation.  After learning of the nurdle, no longer is a stroll on the beach just a stroll on the beach.  Now, my eye cannot avoid spotting these tiny balls of brightly colored plastic.  This is what I have coined the Nurdle Effect.