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Embracing an interdisciplinary approach to plastics pollution awareness and action
Abstract
This paper considers how an interdisciplinary approach to the “wicked problem” of plastics pollution offers unique and important collaborative possibilities. Specially, the paper considers the approach of the Synthetic Collective, a group comprising artists, humanities scholars, and scientists. Considering first how artists and scientists might respond differently to tracking, mapping, understanding, and representing plastics pollution, we then look for potential points of commonality across disciplinary difference. In respect to the urgent and multifaceted problem of marine plastics pollution in the Great Lakes region, we ask what are some of the successes and pitfalls of bringing together diverse approaches and interests? The paper concludes with a clear strategy: a set of instructions geared towards building successful interdisciplinary collaborations. Ultimately, we conclude that a strong relationship amongst scientists and artists is possible, fruitful, and indeed warranted when shared goals are the driving principle of the group.
... Currently, 14 million tonnes of microplastics are on the seafloor [4]. Recycling is often emphasized as a possible solution to the pollution caused by unmanaged plastics production and disposal [5][6][7]. Mechanical recycling of plastic waste remains a viable approach to the environmental menace of waste plastics disposal [8]. ...
The mechanical recycling of solid plastic waste on a small-scale level can be accomplished with the correct approaches. Thermoplastics are the types of plastic mostly considered for mechanical recycling because of their physical properties and ease of reprocessing. This paper reviews the mechanical reprocessing techniques of selected thermoplastics (polyethylene terephthalate and polyolefins), since they constitute a significant proportion of the plastics used commercially. Furthermore, necessary considerations for the effective operation of small-scale plants, including energy requirements of machinery and optimisation in order to improve efficiency and product quality, are discussed. A clearer understanding and addressing of the process-related challenges will lead to the successful establishment and management of small-scale mechanical recycling facilities to benefit communities. Efficient small-scale mechanical reprocessing establishments have become essential in reducing the environmental impacts of solid plastic waste and for energy conservation.
... On the other hand, plastic brings guilt as we are reminded of the ecologically toxic times we live in. Many worry about the fact that plastics, as nonbiodegradable, merely transform but do not decompose (Belontz et al. 2019;Corcoran, Moore, and Jazvac 2014;Corcoran, Jazvac, and Ballent 2017). Some researchers remind us that some plastics lead to unpredictable health consequences for humans (Vandenberg et al. 2017;Azoulay et al. 2019), while other scholars emphasize that plastics pollution is colonial and imperial (Liboiron 2018(Liboiron , 2021. ...
This paper sketches aspects of common worlding waste pedagogies through Donna Haraway’s figure of the Chthulucene. More specifically, it narrates the making and happenings of what we call a queer synthetic curriculum in an early childhood centre. Drawing attention to plastic in order to reframe children’s relationship to it, the article engages with three main questions: How might we refashion waste practices from children’s ubiquitous plastic relations? How might we speculate on the kinds of response-able worlds that might be remade through new kinds of interactions between child and plastic bodies? What might the Chthulucene synthetic futures of early education entail? The queer synthetic curriculum also experiments with creative strategies to learn to live with plastic toxicities without necessarily celebrating them; it embraces the mixed affects that plastic affords (its sensorial pleasures and possibilities as well as the guilt embedded in their toxicity); it plays with the provocative idea that we can no longer separate our fleshy human bodies from synthetic polymer bodies; and it treats plastic as chthonic queer matter. We argue that, by staying with the trouble these risky attachments bring, conditions for futures other than those already determined by synthetic, toxic petrocapitalist modernity and coloniality might emerge in early childhood education.
... Other activities share a focus for driving change in human behaviors, as a solution to MPL. For example, communication, educational and information campaigns try to raise awareness (Belontz et al., 2018) and eventually influence human behaviors to reduce, reuse and recycle (3R's campaigns), and to not litter (e.g. Rayon-Viña et al., 2019). ...
As human behaviors play a crucial role in addressing the global threat of plastic pollution, it is vital to understand perceptions about marine plastic litter (MPL) and to develop interventions encouraging pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). This study evaluates story writing as a window to explore perceptions and as an engagement activity to boost PEBs. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, schoolchildren from the East Pacific coast participated in this activity, each creating a story and answering a pre-post survey. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of 81 stories and 79 surveys show awareness of sources and impacts. Participants identified land and local pollution as significant contributors to MPL and emphasized bio-ecological impacts, reflecting concern for landscape and wildlife. While the stories presented a diversity of solutions, recycling dominated the surveys. As participants reported an increase in self-assessed knowledge and improved PEBs after this activity, it can be seen as an engagement tool to encourage behavior change.
... Solutions are historically slow to be placed onto political agendas and when they do become policy, implementation is lengthy despite an urgency to roll out these solutions. The plastic pollution issue has been labeled as a wicked problem (Belontz et al., 2019;Landon-Lane, 2018) and a crisis (Nielsen et al., 2020;Vince & Stoett, 2018). It is a "creeping crisis" as it has slowly evolved over time without a well-defined start and ending, which is typical of wicked problems (Maeland & Staupe-Delgado, 2020). ...
Single‐use plastics (SUPs) are increasingly polluting terrestrial, coastal, and marine habits, contributing to the creeping “plastic crisis.” The COVID‐19 pandemic provided a window of opportunity for decision makers to change the degree of urgency and responsiveness to this crisis and for policy entrepreneurs and industry who are against reducing plastic consumption to influence decision makers to change their position on various plastic‐related issues. Hygiene/health concerns have been used as a justification by governments and industry to increase the use of SUPs resulting in a reversal in, or a reprioritization of, policy decisions. Through the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), I examine how creeping crises become secondary to urgent crises through agenda setting that is influenced and leveraged by policy entrepreneurs. I explore examples of such plastic policy decisions finding that they have been politically driven and influenced by entrepreneurs and industry rather than being primarily based on health concerns. Diaz‐Kope, Luisa, and John C. Morris. 2022. “Why Collaborate? Exploring the Role of Organizational Motivations in Cross‐sector Watershed Collaboration.” Politics & Policy 50(3): 516–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12470. Gerlach, John David, Laron K. Williams, and Colleen E. Forcina. 2013. “The Science‐Natural Resource Policy Relationship: How Aspects of Diffusion Theory Explain Data Selection for Making Biodiversity Management Decisions.” Politics & Policy 41(3): 326–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12017. Neill, Katharine A., and John C. Morris. 2012. “A Tangled Web of Principals and Agents: Examining the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill through a Principal–Agent Lens.” Politics & Policy 40(4): 629–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00371.x. Los plásticos de un solo uso (SUP) están contaminando cada vez más los hábitos terrestres, costeros y marinos, lo que contribuye a la progresiva "crisis del plástico". La pandemia de COVID‐19 brindó una ventana de oportunidad para que los tomadores de decisiones cambien el grado de urgencia y capacidad de respuesta a esta crisis y para los empresarios de políticas y la industria que están en contra de reducir el consumo de plástico para influir en los tomadores de decisiones para cambiar su posición sobre varios temas relacionados con el plástico. Los gobiernos y la industria han utilizado las preocupaciones de higiene/salud como justificación para aumentar el uso de SUP, lo que ha dado lugar a una reversión o una nueva priorización de las decisiones políticas. A través del Marco de Corrientes Múltiples (MSF, por sus siglas en inglés), examinamos cómo las crisis progresivas se vuelven secundarias frente a las crisis urgentes a través del establecimiento de una agenda que es influenciada y aprovechada por los empresarios de políticas. Exploramos ejemplos de tales decisiones sobre políticas de plástico y descubrimos que han sido impulsadas políticamente e influenciadas por empresarios y la industria en lugar de basarse principalmente en preocupaciones de salud. 一次性塑料(SUP)越来越多地污染陆地、沿海和海洋环境，为慢性“塑料危机”作贡献。2019冠状病毒病(COVID‐19)大流行为决策者提供了一个机会之窗，以改变对这场危机的紧迫程度和响应程度，并为反对减少塑料消费的政策企业家和行业提供机会，以影响决策者改变其在不同塑料相关问题上的立场。卫生/健康问题已被政府和行业用作增加 SUP使用的理由，从而导致政策决策发生逆转或优先次序调整。通过使用多源流框架(MSF)，我们分析了慢性危机如何在一个受政策企业家影响和利用的议程设置下次于 紧急危机。我们探究了这类塑料政策决策的例子，发现决策的制定并非主要基于健康问题，而是受到企业家和行业的政治驱动和影响。
... Currently, 14 million tonnes of microplastics are on the seafloor [4]. Recycling is often emphasized as a possible solution to the pollution caused by unmanaged plastics production and disposal [5][6][7]. Mechanical recycling of plastic waste remains a viable approach to the environmental menace of waste plastics disposal [8]. ...
Mechanical recycling of solid plastic wastes on a small-scale level can be accomplished with the correct approaches. Thermoplastics are mostly considered for mechanical recycling because of their physical properties and ease of reprocessing. This paper reviews the mechanical reprocessing techniques of selected thermoplastics (polyethylene terephthalate and polyolefins) since they constitute a significant proportion of plastics used commercially. Furthermore, necessary considerations for effective operation of small-scale plants, including energy requirements of machinery and optimisation in order to improve efficiency and product quality, are discussed. A clearer understanding and addressing of the process-related challenges will lead to successful establishment and management of small-scale mechanical recycling facilities to benefit communities. Efficient small-scale mechanical reprocessing establishments have become essential in reducing the environmental impacts of solid plastic wastes and for energy conservation.
... They also analysed household waste and recycling practices [10,17]. Previous reviews have evaluated the potential of citizen science for the study of plastic in the environment [2,7,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Among these reviews, only Zettler et al. [18], Ammendolia and Walker [7], Bosker et al. [21] and Syberg et al. [22] provided an in-depth analysis of citizen science initiatives. ...
In recent years, citizen science has proven to be an effective means of monitoring plastic litter, bring potential benefits to professional researchers and authorities, and create awareness on plastic pollution at a society level. This paper aims to review the advances of employing the citizen science approach for plastic litter evaluation and explore the research contributions of these initiatives and their impact at the society and environmental levels. A systematic search was undertaken using the main scientific paper databases and back-referencing from reviewed papers over a period of 10 years. Out of 221 papers found, only 94 papers that discussed plastic litter/waste and citizen science remained in the analysis. Geographically, 66% of the studies were concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere (mostly in USA). The majority were related to clean-up activities that analysed litter density, types, and potential sources. The results showed that citizens can provide data over large geographical regions and can be essential to researchers and authorities in implementing litter management policies. Citizen science programs are effective in creating awareness and increasing education regarding plastic litter pollution and impact. However, it is not clear if they can enhance behavioural changes after participation in field survey programs.
... In the Great Lakes region, new technology to track waste through aquatic environments may help to determine the fate and pathway of plastic litter throughout the lakes (Sigler, 2014). It remains clear that interdisciplinary action will be required to solve the complex issue of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes (Belontz et al., 2018). ...
Plastic pollution is ubiquitous in freshwater systems worldwide, and the Laurentian Great Lakes are no exception. We conducted a systematic review to synthesize the current state of the literature on plastic pollution, including macroplastics (>5 mm) and microplastics (<5 mm), in the Great Lakes. Thirty-four publications were used in our systematic review. We found ubiquitous contamination of microplastics in surface water, with maximum abundances exceeding those in ocean gyres. There are also high levels of plastic contamination reported across benthic sediments and shorelines of the Great Lakes. Citizen science data reveals macroplastic across Great Lakes shorelines, with more than three million pieces of plastic litter recorded over a span of three years. We completed a second systematic review of plastic pollution and its impact on freshwater ecosystems in general to inform how plastic in the Great Lakes may impact wildlife. Among studies published in the literature, we found 390 tested effects, 234 (60%) of which were detected and 156 (40%) of which were not; almost all of the freshwater effects (>98%) were tested on microplastics. Based on a subset of these papers, we found that the shape and size of a particle likely affects whether an effect is detected, e.g., more effects are detected for smaller particles. Finally, we identify gaps in scientific knowledge that need to be addressed and discuss how the state of the science can inform management strategies.
... Se pueden mencionar algunos temas emergentes de la gobernanza oceánica y marina que han puesto a prueba la colaboración y el descubrimiento de nuevas formas de trabajo internacional, como serían los casos de: la gobernanza en los mares y regiones árticas (Weidemann, 2014;Vestergaard et al., 2018;Wilson, 2018), la extensión de las zonas económicas exclusivas por la creación de islas artificiales (Bekman, 2013;Singh y Yamamoto, 2017), los derrames petroleros (Mei y Yin, 2009;Jernelov, 2010; Yim y Short, 2017), las arribazones extraordinarias de sargazo en el mar Caribe (Johnson et al., 2012;unep, 2018;Burrowes et al., 2019) o la contaminación por plásticos -en todos sus tamaños-de los océanos mundiales (Sharma y Chatterjee, 2017;Tiller y Nyman, 2018;Belontz et al., 2019;Takada y Karapanaioti, 2019). ...
... Interdisciplinary work, bridging different disciplines such as arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences (Fig. 9), can also be very effective in tackling problems such as plastic pollution, with the integration of a diverse range of disciplines generally producing augmented consensus and fruitful synergistic solutions [97]. ...
Globally, plastic pollution generates a dramatic environmental impact, posing an increasing hazard to wildlife and human health. Complex measures are needed at the societal level to curb this pollution trend: from changing consumer behavior, enhanced research for innovative solutions to reduce plastic production and increase plastic recycling ratio, to the usage of environmentally friendlier alternatives, improved awareness raising, and information dissemination at wider scales. There are multiple possibilities for public and stakeholders to break the plastic pollution chain: education, research, environmental NGOs, plastic industry, local authorities, policy makers, and citizens – all can play an active role in the battle against pollution. This chapter presents the ways to induce an attitude shift at the societal level toward reduction of plastic pollution, by emphasizing the risks of plastic pollution, possibilities to change consumer behavior, examples of best practices to reduce pollution and improve plastic waste management, highlighting how education and science can improve our daily decisions toward green solutions, how social media can support with dedicated applications and awareness-raising campaigns, and how each stakeholder can contribute to tackle this global challenge.
... Eagle et al. (188) argue that social marketing principles (183,189,190) paired with education (75, 85-87, 182, 183, 189-191) and policy (section upstream policy) can intervene to change behavior to positively impact plastic pollution using a transdisciplinary approach to identify barriers to and enablers of sustained behavior change. ...
Background: Infectious disease epidemiology and planetary health literature often cite solid waste and plastic pollution as risk factors for vector-borne diseases and urban zoonoses; however, no rigorous reviews of the risks to human health have been published since 1994. This paper aims to identify research gaps and outline potential solutions to interrupt the vicious cycle of solid wastes; disease vectors and reservoirs; infection and disease; and poverty. Methods: We searched peer-reviewed publications from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Stanford Searchworks, and references from relevant articles using the search terms (“disease” OR “epidemiology”) AND (“plastic pollution,” “garbage,” and “trash,” “rubbish,” “refuse,” OR “solid waste”). Abstracts and reports from meetings were included only when they related directly to previously published work. Only articles published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese through 2018 were included, with a focus on post-1994, after the last comprehensive review was published. Cancer, diabetes, and food chain-specific articles were outside the scope and excluded. After completing the literature review, we further limited the literature to “urban zoonotic and biological vector-borne diseases” or to “zoonotic and biological vector-borne diseases of the urban environment.” Results: Urban biological vector-borne diseases, especially Aedes-borne diseases, are associated with solid waste accumulation but vector preferences vary over season and region. Urban zoonosis, especially rodent and canine disease reservoirs, are associated with solid waste in urban settings, especially when garbage accumulates over time, creating burrowing sites and food for reservoirs. Although evidence suggests the link between plastic pollution/solid waste and human disease, measurements are not standardized, confounders are not rigorously controlled, and the quality of evidence varies. Here we propose a framework for solutions-based research in three areas: innovation, education, and policy. Conclusions: Disease epidemics are increasing in scope and scale with urban populations growing, climate change providing newly suitable vector climates, and immunologically naïve populations becoming newly exposed. Sustainable solid waste management is crucial to prevention, specifically in urban environments that favor urban vectors such as Aedes species. We propose that next steps should include more robust epidemiological measurements and propose a framework for solutions-based research.
Mechanical interventions are increasingly suggested as a means of removing plastic litter from aquatic environments; their performance is rarely evaluated, but such information is critical to inform policy interventions such as those required to facilitate UNEA 5.2. The Seabin, a fixed-point device designed to remove floating litter in sheltered waters was examined in an urban tidal marina (Southwest UK). It captured on average 58 litter items/day; chiefly plastic pellets, polystyrene balls and plastic fragments. It also captured one marine organism for every 3.6 items of litter, or 13 organisms/day, half of which were dead upon retrieval. The rate of litter capture was inferior to manual cleaning conducted with nets from pontoons or vessels. Hence, in this location the Seabin was of minimal benefit in terms of marine litter removal and resulted in mortality of marine organisms. The presence of such devices could also precipitate false optimism and reliance on technological solutions, rather than systemic changes in our production, use, and disposal of plastics.
In the context of global concerns about plastics, this paper sets out and exemplifies a research agenda for articulating children’s encounters with plastics. The paper analyses data co-produced with 11–15 year-olds through interviews, app-based research and experimental/arts-led workshops. It moves beyond scholarship in health and environmental sciences, and in environmental education research, to outline a far richer range of ways to conceptualise children’s encounters with plastics, based in children’s everyday, embodied and emotive interactions with plastics.
From the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain back on the eighteenth century, and mainly from the enormous technological development in several fields (electronics, computing, and robotics) occurred on the second half of the twentieth century that affected deeply industrial processing and manufacturing, most part of society, and even scientific community in some occasions, have usually associated the concept of industry in general, but specifically of Chemical Industry, to several rather negative concerns, such as: exploitation of natural resources; contamination, in general; air, water, and/or soil pollution; emission of tons of wastes; and, more recently, the menace of global warming and emerging pollutants. The main reason relies on the involvement of one or more chemical processes, with the subsequent spending of natural feedstocks and energy and the generation of by-products, in the manufacturing of most products that make our life easier. In fact, it is not possible to imagine how our life would be like without the enormous amount of goods generated by Chemical Industry. Nevertheless, from the establishment of the term “Green Chemistry” two decades ago, both academia and chemical industry are devoting their efforts to remove those old prejudices and to redirect the modern chemical industry to a greener, more efficient, and more sustainable development and production. One of the keystones of the Green Industry is the use of efficient synthetic routes (green synthesis) for producing compounds or (nano)materials in general that may be used directly or as part of more complex manufactures or devices, such as sensors and biosensors, widely used for analytical purposes. In this sense, this chapter intends to provide an overview of the most important green synthesis, mainly based on the clean ultrasound and microwave technologies or biosynthesis routes, and how they can be used to produce nanomaterials or materials for building (bio)sensing devices, whose production, in some cases, can be scaled up or industrially done, and even employed in the industry itself for detection and/or determination purposes and/or for quality control, among other applications. Finally, a critical discussion about the abovementioned topics and their relationships with sustainable development of chemical industry is reported.
Recent data indicate accumulation areas of marine litter in Arctic waters and significant increases over time. Beaches on remote Arctic islands may be sinks for marine litter and reflect pollution levels of the surrounding waters particularly well. We provide the first quantitative data from surveys carried out by citizen scientists on six beaches of Svalbard. Litter quantities recorded by cruise tourists varied from 9-524gm(-2) and were similar to those from densely populated areas. Plastics accounted for >80% of the overall litter, most of which originated from fisheries. Photographs provided by citizens show deleterious effects of beach litter on Arctic wildlife, which is already under strong pressure from global climate change. Our study highlights the potential of citizen scientists to provide scientifically valuable data on the pollution of sensitive remote ecosystems. The results stress once more that current legislative frameworks are insufficient to tackle the pollution of Arctic ecosystems.
Microplastic pollution has exhibited a global distribution, including seas, lakes, rivers, and terrestrial environment in recent years. However, little attention was paid on the atmospheric environment, though the fact that plastic debris can escape as wind-blown debris was previously reported. Thus, characteristics of microplastics in the atmospheric fallout from Dongguan city were preliminarily studied. Microplastics of three different polymers, i.e., PE, PP, and PS, were identified. Diverse shapes of microplastics including fiber, foam, fragment, and film were found, and fiber was the dominant shape of the microplastics. SEM images illustrated that adhering particles, grooves, pits, fractures, and flakes were the common patterns of degradation. The concentrations of non-fibrous microplastics and fibers ranged from 175 to 313 particles/m²/day in the atmospheric fallout. Thus, dust emission and deposition between atmosphere, land surface, and aquatic environment were associated with the transportation of microplastics.
Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.
From climate change to hydraulic fracturing, and from drinking water safety to wildfires, environmental challenges are changing. The United States has made substantial environmental protection progress based on media-specific and single pollutant risk-based frameworks. However, today’s environmental problems are increasingly complex and new scientific approaches and tools are needed to achieve sustainable solutions to protect the environment and public health. In this article, we present examples of today’s environmental challenges and offer an integrated systems approach to address them. We provide a strategic framework and recommendations for advancing the application of science for protecting the environment and public health. We posit that addressing 21st century challenges requires transdisciplinary and systems approaches, new data sources, and stakeholder partnerships. To address these challenges, we outline a process driven by problem formulation with the following steps: a) formulate the problem holistically, b) gather and synthesize diverse information, c) develop and assess options, and d) implement sustainable solutions. This process will
require new skills and education in systems science, with an emphasis on science translation. A systems-based approach can transcend media- and receptor-specific bounds, integrate diverse information, and recognize the inextricable link between ecology and human health.
Marine microplastics are a contaminant of concern because their small size allows ingestion by a wide range of marine life. Using citizen science during the Newfoundland recreational cod fishery, we sampled 205 Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) destined for human consumption and found that 5 had eaten plastic, an ingestion prevalence rate of 2.4%. This ingestion rate for Atlantic cod is the second lowest recorded rate in the reviewed published literature (the lowest is 1.4%), and the lowest for any fish in the North Atlantic. This is the first report for plastic ingestion in fish in Newfoundland, Canada, a province dependent on fish for sustenance and livelihoods.
The evaluation of interdisciplinary research is complicated by ambiguity about what interdisciplinarity is and what it should be. The question is topical, as evaluation plays an important role in how science is being shaped and changed today. The chapter performs a meta-analysis of the concept of interdisciplinarity in research evaluation, and gives an epistemic account of what would be involved in such evaluations. First, we discuss the various ways interdisciplinarity can add value to the disciplinary organization of academia and their respective implications for research evaluation. Second, we provide tools for mapping and measuring these value-added properties and illustrate what kind of evidence they can convey to research evaluations. The combined examination of values and indicators allows us to gain a more differentiated understanding of what exactly to look at when evaluating interdisciplinary research – and more generally, how to design research evaluations from an interdisciplinary point of view.
Using plastic pollution as a case study, this article shows how the material characteristics of objects – their density, their size, and the strength of their molecular bonds, among other traits – are central to their agency. The author argues that it is crucial to attend to the physical characteristics of matter if we, as researchers, are going to describe problems and contribute to solutions for ‘bad actors’ like pollutants. Plastics and their chemicals are challenging regulatory models of pollution, research methods, and modes of action because of their ubiquity, longevity, and scale of production. This article investigates how scientists researching plastic pollution are attempting to create a new model – or models – of pollution that account for the unpredictable and complex materialities of 21st-century pollutants, and how the Anthropocene has come to be a shorthand for our material understandings of moral transgressions, cherished boundaries, and good citizenship.
In this review we report new findings concerning interaction between marine debris and wildlife. Deleterious effects and consequences of entangle-ment, consumption and smothering are highlighted and discussed. The number of species known to have been affected by either entanglement or ingestion of plastic debris has doubled since 1997, from 267 to 557 species among all groups of wildlife. For marine turtles the number of affected species increased from 86 to 100 % (now 7 of 7 species), for marine mammals from 43 to 66 % (now 81 of 123 species) and for seabirds from 44 to 50 % of species (now 203 of 406 species). Strong increases in records were also listed for fish and invertebrates, groups that were previously not considered in detail. In future records of interactions between marine debris and wildlife we recommend to focus on standardized data on frequency of occurrence and quantities of debris ingested. In combination with dedicated impact studies in the wild or experiments, this will allow more detailed assessments of the deleterious effects of marine debris on individuals and populations.
The concept of “wicked problems” has attracted increasing focus in policy research, but the implications for public organizations have received less attention. This article examines the main organizational and cognitive dimensions emerging from the research literature on wicked problems. We identify several recent approaches to addressing problem complexity and stakeholder divergence based on the literatures on systems thinking, collaboration and coordination, and the adaptive leadership roles of public leaders and managers. We raise some challenges for public management in some key functional areas of government—strategy making, organizational design, people management, and performance measurement. We argue that provisional solutions can be developed, despite the difficulties of reforming governance processes to address wicked problems more effectively.
Recognition of increasing plastic debris pollution over the last several decades has led to investigations of the imminent dangers posed to marine organisms and their ecosystems, but very little is known about the preservation potential of plastics in the rock record. As anthropogenically derived materials, plastics are astonishingly abundant in oceans, seas, and lakes, where they accumulate at or near the water surface, on lake and ocean bottoms, and along shorelines. The burial potential of plastic debris is chiefly dependent on the material's density and abundance, in addition to the depositional environment. Here, we report the appearance of a new "stone" formed through intermingling of melted plastic, beach sediment, basaltic lava fragments, and organic debris from Kamilo Beach on the island of Hawaii. The material, herein referred to as "plastiglomerate," is divided into in situ and clastic types that were distributed over all areas of the beach. Agglutination of natural sediments to melted plastic during campfire burning has increased the overall density of plastiglomerate, which inhibits transport by wind or water, thereby increasing the potential for burial and subsequent preservation. Our results indicate that this anthropogenically influenced material has great potential to form a marker horizon of human pollution, signaling the occurrence of the informal Anthropocene epoch.
Plastic pellets are worldwide contaminants that accumulate in the ocean, especially in sandy beaches, where their historic standing-stock quantification relies on surface sediment samples. We demonstrated these particles present a three-dimensional instead of a simple along-across shore distribution, being found as deep as 2.0 m, with surface layers accounting for <10% of the total abundance in the sediment column. This gradient seemed to be more related to oceanographic rather than anthropic processes, suggesting a general pattern whose applicability to microplastics and sedimentary environments as a whole should be investigated. This poses criticism in the exactness of standing-stock records and demands urgent discussion of sampling protocols.
With knowledge of typical hydrodynamic behavior of waste plastic material, models predicting the dispersal of benthic plastics from land sources within the ocean are possible. Here we investigated the hydrodynamic behavior (density, settling velocity and resuspension characteristics) of non-buoyant preproduction plastic pellets in the laboratory. From these results we used the MOHID modelling system to predict what would be the likely transport and deposition pathways of such material in the Nazaré Canyon (Portugal) during the spring/summer months of 2009 and the autumn/winter months of 2011.
Model outputs indicated that non-buoyant plastic pellets would likely be transported up and down canyon as a function of tidal forces, with only a minor net down canyon movement resulting from tidal action. The model indicated that transport down canyon was likely greater during the autumn/winter, primarily as a result of occasional mass transport events related to storm activity and internal wave action. Transport rates within the canyon were not predicted to be regular throughout the canyon system, with stretches of the upper canyon acting more as locations of pellet deposition than conduits of pellet transport. Topography and the depths of internal wave action are hypothesized to contribute to this lack of homogeneity in predicted transport.
Small plastic detritus, termed 'microplastics', are a widespread and ubiquitous contaminant of marine ecosystems across the globe. Ingestion of microplastics by marine biota, including mussels, worms, fish and seabirds, has been widely reported, but despite their vital ecological role in marine food-webs, the impact of microplastics on zooplankton remains under-researched. Here, we show that microplastics are ingested by, and may impact upon, zooplankton. We used bio-imaging techniques to document ingestion, egestion and adherence of microplastics in a range of zooplankton common to the northeast Atlantic, and employed feeding rate studies to determine the impact of plastic detritus on algal ingestion rates in copepods. Using fluorescence and coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy we identified that thirteen zooplankton taxa had the capacity to ingest 1.7 - 30.6 µm polystyrene beads, with uptake varying by taxa, life-stage and bead-size. Post-ingestion, copepods egested faecal pellets laden with microplastics. We further observed microplastics adhered to the external carapace and appendages of exposed zooplankton. Exposure of the copepod Centropages typicus to natural assemblages of algae with and without microplastics showed that 7.3 µm microplastics (>4000 ml-1) significantly decreased algal feeding. Our findings imply that marine microplastic debris can negatively impact upon zooplankton function and health.
Plastic marine pollution is a major environmental concern, yet a quantitative description of the scope of this problem in
the open ocean is lacking. Here, we present a time series of plastic content at the surface of the western North Atlantic
Ocean and Caribbean Sea from 1986 to 2008. More than 60% of 6136 surface plankton net tows collected buoyant plastic pieces,
typically millimeters in size. The highest concentration of plastic debris was observed in subtropical latitudes and associated
with the observed large-scale convergence in surface currents predicted by Ekman dynamics. Despite a rapid increase in plastic
production and disposal during this time period, no trend in plastic concentration was observed in the region of highest accumulation.
One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics. Within just a few decades since mass production of plastic products commenced in the 1950s, plastic debris has accumulated in terrestrial environments, in the open ocean, on shorelines of even the most remote islands and in the deep sea. Annual clean-up operations, costing millions of pounds sterling, are now organized in many countries and on every continent. Here we document global plastics production and the accumulation of plastic waste. While plastics typically constitute approximately 10 per cent of discarded waste, they represent a much greater proportion of the debris accumulating on shorelines. Mega- and macro-plastics have accumulated in the highest densities in the Northern Hemisphere, adjacent to urban centres, in enclosed seas and at water convergences (fronts). We report lower densities on remote island shores, on the continental shelf seabed and the lowest densities (but still a documented presence) in the deep sea and Southern Ocean. The longevity of plastic is estimated to be hundreds to thousands of years, but is likely to be far longer in deep sea and non-surface polar environments. Plastic debris poses considerable threat by choking and starving wildlife, distributing non-native and potentially harmful organisms, absorbing toxic chemicals and degrading to micro-plastics that may subsequently be ingested. Well-established annual surveys on coasts and at sea have shown that trends in mega- and macro-plastic accumulation rates are no longer uniformly increasing: rather stable, increasing and decreasing trends have all been reported. The average size of plastic particles in the environment seems to be decreasing, and the abundance and global distribution of micro-plastic fragments have increased over the last few decades. However, the environmental consequences of such microscopic debris are still poorly understood.
A substantial fraction of marine plastic debris originates from land-based sources and rivers potentially act as a major transport pathway for all sizes of plastic debris. We analyzed a global compilation of data on plastic debris in the water column across a wide range of river sizes. Plastic debris loads, both microplastic (particles <5 mm) and macroplastic (particles >5 mm) are positively related to the mismanaged plastic waste (MMPW) generated in the river catchments. This relationship is nonlinear where large rivers with population-rich catchments delivering a disproportionately higher fraction of MMPW into the sea. The 10 top-ranked rivers transport 88–95% of the global load into the sea. Using MMPW as a predictor we calculate the global plastic debris inputs form rivers into the sea to range between 0.41 and 4 × 10⁶ t/y. Due to the limited amount of data high uncertainties were expected and ultimately confirmed. The empirical analysis to quantify plastic loads in rivers can be extended easily by additional potential predictors other than MMPW, for example, hydrological conditions.
Microplastics are plastics that measure less than 5 mm in diameter. They enter the marine environment as primary sources directly from industrial uses, as well as secondary sources resulting from the degradation of large plastic debris. To improve the knowledge of microplastic pollution in China, we investigated samples from 53 estuarine sediment locations collected with a box corer within the Changjiang Estuary. Microplastics (<5 mm) were extracted from sediments by density separation, after which they were observed under a microscope and categorized according to shape, color and size. Identification was carried out using Micro-Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (μ-FT-IR).
This article develops a critical framework—“ecologies of entanglement”—to examine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a site of Asian American racial formation. The Garbage Patch’s nonhuman ontology, as explored in Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being (2013) and several shorter works, necessitates revision of the most fundamental paradigms of analysis of Asian American studies: the individual and the nation-state. The first half of the article recuperates the category of garbage as a metonym for deracinated history, while the second situates plastic, the material that constitutes the majority of the Patch, as an Asian American racial form. By perceiving transpacific relations beyond human and transnational frames, ecologies of entanglement show how Asian American literature and criticism constitute a distinct and salient discursive field even in the seemingly postnational, postracial, and posthuman moment of the Anthropocene.
We present the first study of microplastics in the sediments of Vembanad Lake, a Ramsar site in India. Microplastics are emerging pollutants of increasing environmental concern with a particle size of <5 mm, which originate from successive degradation of larger plastic debris or are manufactured as small granules and used in many applications. The impact of microplastics pollution on the environment and biota is not well known. Vast data exist in the literature on marine microplastics while reports on freshwater ecosystems are scarce. In this context, to examine the occurrence of microplastic particles (MPs) in the Vembanad Lake, samples were collected from ten sites and processed for microplastic extraction through density separation. Identification of the polymer components of MPs was done using micro Raman spectroscopy. MPs were recovered from all sediment samples, indicating their extensive distribution in the lake. The abundance of MPs recorded from the sediment samples is in the range of 96-496 particles m(-2) with a mean abundance of 252.80 ± 25.76 particles m(-2). Low density polyethylene has been identified as the dominant type of polymer component of the MPs. As clams and fishes are the major source of protein to the local population, the presence of MPs in the lake becomes critically important, posing a severe threat of contaminating the food web of this lake. This study, being the first report from India on MPs in lake sediments, provide impetus for further research on the distribution and impact of this emerging pollutant on the biota of many aquatic systems spread across India.
The global persistence of plastic debris coupled with enormous and ever-increasing production rates of plastic materials has led to its designation as a symbol of anthropogenic influence on Earth's natural processes. Entombing plastic in landfills and under newly built urban structures aids with burial, as does increasing its density by adding functional fillers or by burning, melting, and binding it with higher-density natural fragments. Unlike many other anthropogenic markers, plastics are dispersed on a global scale and have considerable capacity to withstand degradation once buried. These characteristics suggest that plastics are an ideal marker of the Anthropocene in the future sedimentary record.
The Great Lakes are a group of interconnected lakes located on the Canada–United States border. Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, and contain around 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. These lakes suffer from considerable microplastic contamination. Despite this awareness, citizens around the lakes struggle to take action. With over 80% of plastic debris in the world's water bodies being contributed from land, the solutions for eliminating microplastics have to come from changes in consumer behaviour and by stopping contamination at the source. “eXXpedition Great Lakes 2016″ was designed as a one-day mass engagement event to bring the science of microplastics to citizens across the region, allowing them to experience first hand the presence and impact of this pollution. Volunteers collected water samples and conducted shoreline clean-ups on the Great Lakes and connecting waterways. Sailing vessels led by female scientists specialising in plastic pollution, human and environmental health were also launched from key cities in both Canada and the United States. The approach was to utilise the power of citizen engagement to promote clean-water advocacy and action in North America. By experiencing the issue of microplastics pollution first hand, it was hoped that participants would feel an increased sense of responsibility and consider protection of the environment as their duty, which would hopefully lead to changes in consumer behaviour. This paper shares the experiences during the event.
Microplastics contamination of Lake Ontario sediments is investigated with the aim of identifying distribution patterns and hotspots in nearshore, tributary and beach depositional environments. Microplastics are concentrated in nearshore sediments in the vicinity of urban and industrial regions. In Humber Bay and Toronto Harbour microplastic concentrations were consistently > 500 particles per kg dry sediment. Maximum concentrations of ~ 28,000 particles per kg dry sediment were determined in Etobicoke Creek. The microplastic particles were primarily fibres and fragments < 2 mm in size. Both low- and high-density plastics were identified using Raman spectroscopy. We provide a baseline for future monitoring and discuss potential sources of microplastics in terms of how and where to implement preventative measures to reduce the contaminant influx. Although the impacts of microplastics contamination on ecosystem health and functioning is uncertain, understanding, monitoring and preventing further microplastics contamination in Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes is crucial.
The rise of plastics since the mid-20th century, both as a material element of modern life and as a growing environmental pollutant, has been widely described. Their distribution in both the terrestrial and marine realms suggests that they are a key geological indicator of the Anthropocene, as a distinctive stratal component. Most immediately evident in terrestrial deposits, they are clearly becoming widespread in marine sedimentary deposits in both shallow- and deep-water settings. They are abundant and widespread as macroscopic fragments and virtually ubiquitous as microplastic particles; these are dispersed by both physical and biological processes, not least via the food chain and the ‘faecal express’ route from surface to sea floor. Plastics are already widely dispersed in sedimentary deposits, and their amount seems likely to grow several-fold over the next few decades. They will continue to be input into the sedimentary cycle over coming millennia as temporary stores – landfill sites – are eroded. Plastics already enable fine time resolution within Anthropocene deposits via the development of their different types and via the artefacts (‘technofossils’) they are moulded into, and many of these may have long-term preservation potential when buried in strata.
Sources, pathways and reservoirs of microplastics, plastic particles smaller than 5 mm, remain poorly documented in an urban context. While some studies pointed out wastewater treatment plants as a potential pathway of microplastics, none have focused on the atmospheric compartment. In this work, the atmospheric fallout of microplastics was investigated in two different urban and sub-urban sites. Microplastics were collected continuously with a stainless steel funnel. Samples were then filtered and observed with a stereomicroscope. Fibers accounted for almost all the microplastics collected. An atmospheric fallout between 2 and 355 particles/m2/day was highlighted. Registered fluxes were systematically higher at the urban than at the sub-urban site. Chemical characterization allowed to estimate at 29% the proportion of these fibers being all synthetic (made with petrochemicals), or a mixture of natural and synthetic material. Extrapolation using weight and volume estimates of the collected fibers, allowed a rough estimation showing that between 3 and 10 tons of fibers are deposited by atmospheric fallout at the scale of the Parisian agglomeration every year (2500 km²). These results could serve the scientific community working on the different sources of microplastic in both continental and marine environments.
Introduction: From Materiality to Plasticity by Jennifer Gabrys, Gay Hawkins and Mike Michael Part I: Plastic Materialities 1. Plastics, Materials and Dreams of Dematerialization by Bernadette Bensaude Vincent 2. Process and Plasticity: Printing, Prototyping and the Prospects of Plastic by Mike Michael Part II: Plastic Economies 3. Made to Be Wasted: PET and Topologies of Disposability by Gay Hawkins 4. The Material Politics of Vinyl: How the State, Industry and Citizens Created and Transformed West Germany’s Consumer Democracy by Andrea Westermann 5. Paying With Plastic: The Enduring Presence of the Credit Card by Joe Deville Part III: Plastic Bodies 6. The Death and Life of Plastic Surfaces: Mobile Phones by Tom Fisher 7. Reflections of an Unrepentant Plastiphobe: An Essay on Plasticity and the STS Life by Jody A. Roberts 8. Plasticizers: A Twenty-First Century Miasma by Max Liboiron 9. Plastics, the Environment and Human Health by Richard Thompson Part IV: New Articulations 10. Where Does This Stuff Come From? Oil, Plastic and the Distribution of Violence by James Marriott and Mika Minio-Paluello 11. International Pellet Watch: Studies of the Magnitude and Spatial Variation of Chemical Risks Associated with Environmental Plastics by Shige Takada 12. Plastic and the Work of the Biodegradable by Jennifer Gabrys
Microplastics are a source of environmental pollution resulting from degradation of plastic products and spillage of resin pellets. We report the amounts of microplastics from various sites of Lake Ontario and evaluate their potential for preservation in the sediment record. A total of 4635 pellets were sampled from the Humber Bay shoreline on three sampling dates. Pellet colours were similar to those from the Humber River bank, suggesting that the river is a pathway for plastics transport into Lake Ontario. Once in the lake, high density microplastics, including mineral-polyethylene and mineral-polypropylene mixtures, sink to the bottom. The minerals may be fillers that were combined with plastics during production, or may have adsorbed to the surfaces of the polymers in the water column or on the lake bottom. Based on sediment depths and accumulation rates, microplastics have accumulated in the offshore region for less than 38 years. Their burial increases the chance of microplastics preservation. Shoreline pellets may not be preserved because they are mingled with organic debris that is reworked during storm events.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Plastic debris are resistant to degradation, and therefore tend to accumulate in marine environment. Nevertheless recent estimations of plastic concentrations at the surface of the ocean were lower than expected leading the communities to seek new sinks. Among the different processes suggested we chose to focus on the transport of microplastics from the surface to deeper layers of the ocean via phytoplankton aggregates that constitute most of the sinking flux. Interactions between microplastics and aggregates were studied by building a new device: the flow-through roller tank that mimics the behaviour of laboratory made aggregates sinking through a dense layer of microplastics. Three types of aggregates formed from two different algae species (the diatom Chaetoceros neogracile, the cryptophyte Rhodomonas salina and a mix) were used as model. With their frustule made of biogenic silica which is denser than the organic matter, diatom aggregates sunk faster than R. salina aggregates. Diatom aggregates were on average bigger and stickier while aggregates from R. salina were smaller and more fragile. With higher concentrations measured in R. salina aggregates, all model-aggregates incorporated and concentrated microplastics, substantially increasing the microplastic sinking rates from tenths to hundreds of metres per day. Our results clearly show that marine aggregates can be an efficient sink for microplastics by influencing their vertical distribution in the water column. Furthermore, despite the high plastic concentrations tested, our study opens new questions regarding the impact of plastics on sedimentation fluxes in oceans. As an effect of microplastic incorporation, the sinking rates of diatom aggregates strongly decreased meanwhile sinking rates of cryptophyte aggregates increased.
Marine debris is listed among the major perceived threats to biodiversity, and is cause for particular concern due to its abundance, durability and persistence in the marine environment. An extensive literature search reviewed the current state of knowledge on the effects of marine debris on marine organisms. 340 original publications reported encounters between organisms and marine debris and 693 species. Plastic debris accounted for 92% of encounters between debris and individuals. Numerous direct and indirect consequences were recorded, with the potential for sublethal effects of ingestion an area of considerable uncertainty and concern. Comparison to the IUCN Red List highlighted that at least 17% of species affected by entanglement and ingestion were listed as threatened or near threatened. Hence where marine debris combines with other anthropogenic stressors it may affect populations, trophic interactions and assemblages.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Plastic debris in the marine environment is widely documented, but the quantity of plastic entering the ocean from waste generated on land is unknown. By linking worldwide data on solid waste, population density, and economic status, we estimated the mass of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean. We calculate that 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with 4.8 to 12.7 million MT entering the ocean. Population size and the quality of waste management systems largely determine which countries contribute the greatest mass of uncaptured waste available to become plastic marine debris. Without waste management infrastructure improvements, the cumulative quantity of plastic waste available to enter the ocean from land is predicted to increase by an order of magnitude by 2025.
Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Experiments were carried out with different Baltic Sea zooplankton taxa to scan their potential to ingest plastics. Mysid shrimps, copepods, cladocerans, rotifers, polychaete larvae and ciliates were exposed to 10 μm fluorescent polystyrene microspheres. These experiments showed ingestion of microspheres in all taxa studied. The highest percentage of individuals with ingested spheres was found in pelagic polychaete larvae, Marenzelleria spp. Experiments with the copepod Eurytemora affinis and the mysid shrimp Neomysis integer showed egestion of microspheres within 12 h. Food web transfer experiments were done by offering zooplankton labelled with ingested microspheres to mysid shrimps. Microscopy observations of mysid intestine showed the presence of zooplankton prey and microspheres after 3 h incubation. This study shows for the first time the potential of plastic microparticle transfer via planktonic organisms from one trophic level (mesozooplankton) to a higher level (macrozooplankton). The impacts of plastic transfer and possible accumulation in the food web need further investigations.
The search for scientific bases for confronting problems of social policy is bound to fail, becuase of the nature of these problems. They are wicked problems, whereas science has developed to deal with tame problems. Policy problems cannot be definitively described. Moreover, in a pluralistic society there is nothing like the undisputable public good; there is no objective definition of equity; policies that respond to social problems cannot be meaningfully correct or false; and it makes no sense to talk about optimal solutions to social problems unless severe qualifications are imposed first. Even worse, there are no solutions in the sense of definitive and objective answers.
Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research examines current interdisciplinary research efforts and recommends ways to stimulate and support such research. Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from various fields. This shift is driven by the need to address complex problems that cut across traditional disciplines, and the capacity of new technologies to both transform existing disciplines and generate new ones. At the same time, however, interdisciplinary research can be impeded by policies on hiring, promotion, tenure, proposal review, and resource allocation that favor traditional disciplines. This report identifies steps that researchers, teachers, students, institutions, funding organizations, and disciplinary societies can take to more effectively conduct, facilitate, and evaluate interdisciplinary research programs and projects. Throughout the report key concepts are illustrated with case studies and results of the committee's surveys of individual researchers and university provosts. © 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Plastic debris <1 mm (defined here as microplastic) is accumulating in marine habitats. Ingestion of microplastic provides a potential pathway for the transfer of pollutants, monomers, and plastic-additives to organisms with uncertain consequences for their health. Here, we show that microplastic contaminates the shorelines at 18 sites worldwide representing six continents from the poles to the equator, with more material in densely populated areas, but no clear relationship between the abundance of miocroplastics and the mean size-distribution of natural particulates. An important source of microplastic appears to be through sewage contaminated by fibers from washing clothes. Forensic evaluation of microplastic from sediments showed that the proportions of polyester and acrylic fibers used in clothing resembled those found in habitats that receive sewage-discharges and sewage-effluent itself. Experiments sampling wastewater from domestic washing machines demonstrated that a single garment can produce >1900 fibers per wash. This suggests that a large proportion of microplastic fibers found in the marine environment may be derived from sewage as a consequence of washing of clothes. As the human population grows and people use more synthetic textiles, contamination of habitats and animals by microplastic is likely to increase.
Interdisciplinarity has become a widespread mantra for research, accompanied by a growing body of publications. Evaluation, however, remains one of the least-understood aspects. This review of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research evaluation categorizes lessons from the emergent international literature on the topic reviewed in 2007. It defines parallels between research performance and evaluation, presents seven generic principles for evaluation, and reflects in the conclusion on changing connotations of the underlying concepts of discipline, peer, and measurement. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research performance and evaluation are both generative processes of harvesting, capitalizing, and leveraging multiple expertise. Individual standards must be calibrated, and tensions among different disciplinary, professional, and interdisciplinary approaches carefully managed in balancing acts that require negotiation and compromise. Readiness levels are strengthened by antecedent conditions that are flexible enough to allow multiple pathways of integration and collaboration. In both cases, as well, new epistemic communities must be constructed and new cultures of evidence produced. The multidisciplinary-interdisciplinary-transdisciplinary research environment spans a wide range of contexts. Yet seven generic principles provide a coherent framework for thinking about evaluation: (1) variability of goals; (2) variability of criteria and indicators; (3) leveraging of integration; (4) interaction of social and cognitive factors in collaboration; (5) management, leadership, and coaching; (6) iteration in a comprehensive and transparent system; and (7) effectiveness and impact.
Before the Internet, organizations had far more time to monitor and respond to community activity, but that luxury is long gone, leaving them in dire need of a coherent outreach strategy, fresh skills, and adaptive tactics. Drawing on the authors' study of more than two dozen firms, this article describes the changes wrought by social media in particular and shows managers how to take advantage of them--lessons that Kaiser Permanente, Domino's, and others learned the hard way. Social media platforms enhance the power of communities by promoting deep relationships, facilitating rapid organization, improving the creation and synthesis of knowledge, and enabling robust filtering of information. The authors cite many examples from the health care industry, where social media participation is vigorous and influential. For instance, members of Sermo, an online network exclusively for doctors, used the site to call attention to and organize against insurers' proposed reimbursement cuts. And on PatientsLikeMe, where people share details about their chronic diseases and the treatments they've pursued, charts and progress curves help members visualize their own complex histories and allow comparisons and feedback among peers. As you modernize your company's approach to community outreach, you'll need to assemble a social media team equipped to identify new opportunities for engagement and prevent brand damage. In the most successful firms the authors studied, community management was a dedicated function, combining marketing, public relations, and information technology skills.
A citizen scientist is a volunteer who collects and/or processes data as part of a scientific enquiry. Projects that involve citizen scientists are burgeoning, particularly in ecology and the environmental sciences, although the roots of citizen science go back to the very beginnings of modern science itself.
Over the past five or six decades, contamination and pollution of the world's enclosed seas, coastal waters and the wider open oceans by plastics and other synthetic, non-biodegradable materials (generally known as 'marine debris') has been an ever-increasing phenomenon. The sources of these polluting materials are both land- and marine-based, their origins may be local or distant, and the environmental consequences are many and varied. The more widely recognized problems are typically associated with entanglement, ingestion, suffocation and general debilitation, and are often related to stranding events and public perception. Among the less frequently recognized and recorded problems are global hazards to shipping, fisheries and other maritime activities. Today, there are rapidly developing research interests in the biota attracted to freely floating (i.e. pelagic) marine debris, commonly known as 'hangers-on and hitch-hikers' as well as material sinking to the sea floor despite being buoyant. Dispersal of aggressive alien and invasive species by these mechanisms leads one to reflect on the possibilities that ensuing invasions could endanger sensitive, or at-risk coastal environments (both marine and terrestrial) far from their native habitats.
Colonization by alien species poses one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity. Here I investigate the colonization by marine organisms of drift debris deposited on the shores of 30 remote islands from the Arctic to the Antarctic (across all oceans) and find that human litter more than doubles the rafting opportunities for biota, particularly at high latitudes. Although the poles may be protected from invasion by freezing sea surface temperatures, these may be under threat as the fastest-warming areas anywhere are at these latitudes.
Shouts and murmurs. Frieze Magazine Art As Activism
- J Higgie
Higgie, J., 2012. Shouts and murmurs. Frieze Magazine Art As
Activism, 149.
White paper: Challenge-led interdisciplinary research programs. Global Challenges
- T Stutchbury
- C Gibson
- L Moxham
- C Schofield
- G Spinks
Stutchbury, T., C. Gibson, L. Moxham, C. Schofield, and G. Spinks.
2015. White paper: Challenge-led interdisciplinary research
programs. Global Challenges. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia, pp. 1-17. https://globalchallenges.uow.edu.
au/content/groups/public/@web/@gc/documents/doc/
uow201256.pdf.
Life and death in the anthropocene: A short history of plastic
- H Davis
Davis, H. 2015b. Life and death in the anthropocene: A short history
of plastic. In Art in the anthropocene: Encounters among
aesthetics, politics, environments and epistemologies, ed.
H. Davis and E. Turpin, 347-358. London: Open Humanities
Press.
Toxic progeny: The plastisphere and other queer futures
- H Davis
Davis, H. 2015a. Toxic progeny: The plastisphere and other queer
futures. PhiloSOPHIA 5: 232-250.
Accumulation: The material politics of plastic
- J Gabrys
- G Hawkins
- M Michael
Gabrys, J., G. Hawkins, and M. Michael. 2013. Accumulation: The
material politics of plastic. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
- K Robertson
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