The Inescapable Plastics of Being? On Extricability, Care and British Hedgehog Death-by-Plastic
LAURA McLAUCHLAN
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Plastiglomerate: New Materialism and the Anthropocene
CHRISTINA GERHARDT
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
Plastic Waste Flows Between Us
BELLA ADAMS AND JO CROFT
LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY
Comments 2
Dear Panelists, thanks for a series of diverse and challenging presentations that raise a huge number of important issues in their content while also aesthetically and formally illustrating what an online presentation can be.
Scale is something that came up in a couple of the presentation, and in particular Tim Morton’s work around hyperobjects. While it’s certainly a provocative concept that has sparked discussion around scale and ecological crises, I’ve always been quite sceptical about it and so wondered if I could ask you to talk about why you find Moreton/OOO to be a useful way to think about scale? Thanks, Sy.
Dear Sy,
Kindest thanks for your question about the issue of my scale. My talk is based on an article forthcoming in a special issue of Mosaic 51.1 (2018) devoted to the subject of Scale, hence my focus. But having worked as an environmental journalist, I have always been fascinated by global problems or global initiatives, e.g. when covering the annual UN climate talks, to address environmental issues. The solution, even if we are all connected on the issue of climate change, is local, I have consistently argued. Various environmental journalists, such as Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, argue similarly, acknowledging the global and working locally to address climate change. One sees this shift most poignantly right now in the U.S. where despite Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, regional leaders, e.g. NYC’s mayor and California’s governor, are working to create a coalition of local and regional leaders, to connect the UN to the local initiatives. I think the problem is global, the solutions are local. Thanks for your engagement! Christina Gerhardt