Sorry, but I don’t understand the meaning of this article because I am having trouble understanding the measurements. kg is kilograms, t is tonnes, but what is u and what is M? Also, is the conclusion that catching wild fish does more damage to the ecosystem than throwing plastic into the ocean? How should I interpret the sentences?
kg is kilograms, t is tonnes, but what is u and what is M?
They are SI Prefixes: M stands for mega or 1 million, 10^6. u (for μ) stands for micro or 1 millionth, 10 ^ −6.
Is the conclusion that catching wild fish does more damage to the ecosystem than throwing plastic into the ocean
If I understand correctly, the conclusion is that the direct effects of marine plastic pollution on seabirds / marine mammals are probably much smaller than the effects of fishing on fish.
Thanks for noting that, Raluca! Thanks for clarifying, Lorenzo!
I have now added links to the 1st instances of each of the prefixes.
If I understand correctly, the conclusion is that the direct effects of marine plastic pollution on seabirds / marine mammals are probably much smaller than the effects of fishing on fish.
Yes, I think this is exactly the right conclusion to take. We should be careful not to extrapolate to other animals. I have now updated the title to better reflect this.
Thanks for adding those links, definitely helpful.
I think it might be more comprehensible to use 10^x notation, given I imagine most readers would be more familiar with that concept (happy to be corrected). It would also make it so units would be comparable (i.e., it’s easy to see that 10^-8 is much less than 10^-4) without switching back and forth between a Wikipedia article (as I had to do).
Thanks for the suggestion, Mitchell, and welcome to the EA Forum!
Now I use words to introduce the data, and only afterwards provide the prefixes in parentheses:
The plastic emitted to the ocean in 2010 was 8 million tonnes according to OWID (PEO = 8 Mt).
The world population in 2010 was 6.92 billion according to The World Bank (WP = 6.92 G).
Marine plastic debris kills up to 1 million seabirds and 100 thounsand sea mammals each year according to the United Nations (SB = 1 M, and SM = 100 k).
The catch of wild fish is 0.97 to 2.7 trillion/year according to fishcount.org (WFL = 0.97 T/year to WFH = 2.7 T/year).
In the calculations, I also clarify what is the meaning of the prefix I introduce there:
Seabirds killed by plastic marine pollution in 2010, per capita (DSBpC): PEOpC / PEOpDSB = 1.16 / (8 k) = 145 μ (145 seabirds killed per million people).
Sea mammals killed by plastic marine pollution in 2010, per capita (DSMpC): PEOpC / PEOpDSM = 1.16 / (80 k) = 14.5 μ (14.5 sea mammals killed per million people).
I agree with you that 10^x notation is more well known, so you do have a point! On the other hand, I wonder whether using prefixes could be useful for people to get familiar with more notations.
Sorry, but I don’t understand the meaning of this article because I am having trouble understanding the measurements. kg is kilograms, t is tonnes, but what is u and what is M? Also, is the conclusion that catching wild fish does more damage to the ecosystem than throwing plastic into the ocean? How should I interpret the sentences?
They are SI Prefixes: M stands for mega or 1 million, 10^6.
u (for μ) stands for micro or 1 millionth, 10 ^ −6.
If I understand correctly, the conclusion is that the direct effects of marine plastic pollution on seabirds / marine mammals are probably much smaller than the effects of fishing on fish.
Thanks for noting that, Raluca! Thanks for clarifying, Lorenzo!
I have now added links to the 1st instances of each of the prefixes.
Yes, I think this is exactly the right conclusion to take. We should be careful not to extrapolate to other animals. I have now updated the title to better reflect this.
Thanks for adding those links, definitely helpful.
I think it might be more comprehensible to use 10^x notation, given I imagine most readers would be more familiar with that concept (happy to be corrected). It would also make it so units would be comparable (i.e., it’s easy to see that 10^-8 is much less than 10^-4) without switching back and forth between a Wikipedia article (as I had to do).
Thanks for the suggestion, Mitchell, and welcome to the EA Forum!
Now I use words to introduce the data, and only afterwards provide the prefixes in parentheses:
In the calculations, I also clarify what is the meaning of the prefix I introduce there:
I agree with you that 10^x notation is more well known, so you do have a point! On the other hand, I wonder whether using prefixes could be useful for people to get familiar with more notations.