Plastic Legacies: Pollution, Persistence, and Politics

by Trisia Farrelly (Editor), Sy Taffel (Editor), Ian Shaw (Editor)

Overview

Plastics revolutionized our world, but their unforeseen effects are accelerating many ecological and social crises—polluting both our oceans and our politics. Plastic Legacies gathers scholars of marine biology, psychology, anthropology, environmental studies, Indigenous studies, and media studies to investigate the urgent socio-ecological challenges exacerbated by plastics. Rejecting neoliberal solutions, the contributors argue that collective action is key to securing lasting change. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771993272
Publisher:	University of British Columbia Press
Publication date:	10/21/2021
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Trisia Farrelly is codirector of the Political Ecology Research Centre at Massey University, cofounder of the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council and the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance, and a member of the United Nations Scientific Advisory Committee.


 Sy Taffel is codirector of the Political Ecology Research Centre at Massey University. He is the author of Digital Media Ecologies: Entanglements of Content, Code and Hardware.

 Ian Shaw is professor of toxicology at the University of Canterbury. 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction: Our Plastic Inheritance Trisia Farrelly Sy Taffel Ian Shaw 1

Part I Pollution

1 Marine Litter: Are There Solutions to This Global Environmental Problem? Imogen E. Napper Sabine Pahl Richard C. Thompson 25

2 Slow Violence: The Erosion of Marine Plastic Debris and of Human Health Sasha Adkins 41

3 How Seabirds and Indigenous Science Illustrate the Legacies of Plastics Pollution Stephanie B. Borrelle Jennifer Provencher Tina Ngata 59

4 Dawn of the Plastisphere: An Experiment with Unpredictable Effects Sven Bergmann 79

Part II Persistence

5 Plastiglomerate: Plastics, Geology, and the New Materialism of the Anthropocene Christina Gerhardt 103

6 Dressed in Plastic: The Persistence of Polyester Clothes Elyse Stanes 117

7 Caring for the Multiple Cares of Plastics Tridibesh Dey Mike Michael 139

8 On Becoming a Massively Distributed Thing: Hedgehogs, Plastics, and the Bearable Lightness of Becoming Laura McLauchlan 159

Part III Politics

9 Communicative Capitalism, Technological Solutionism, and The Ocean Cleanup Sy Taffel 181

10 Toward Large-Scale Social Change and Plastic Politics: An Anthropological Perspective on the Practices of a Danish Environmental Organization Johanne Tarpgaard 203

11 Plastics Talk/Talking Plastics: The Communicative Power of Plasticity Deirdre McKay Padmapani Perez Lei Xiaoyu 225

12 Redressing the Faustian Bargains of Plastics Economies Trisia Farrelly Ian Shaw John Holland 245

Conclusion: Where There's a Will…Contesting Our Plastic Inheritance Trisia Farrelly 265

List of Contributors 271