Plastics, Environment, Culture and the Politics of Waste - by Tatiana Konrad (Paperback)

About the Book

The first comprehensive study of plastics, from the moment they were invented to the present day

Book Synopsis

Plastics, Environment, Culture and the Politics of Waste examines plastic as a distinct cultural, political, and environmental phenomenon. It outlines the intricate relationship with plastic that humanity has been building over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, drawing on examples from history, the arts, and literature, as well as examining the place of plastics in the current health, environmental, and energy crises. The aim of this book is to reveal the complex nature of plastics, from their rapid incorporation into our advancing ways of life, to the reenvisioning of plastics' role in human life and how, through abundant production, consumption, and disposal of plastics, humanity has initiated a toxic invasion of natural environments and human and nonhuman bodies. Bringing together various perspectives from the humanities, this edited collection contributes to the ongoing research on plastics and petrocultures and emphasizes the crucial significance of addressing the plastic crisis through culture.

Review Quotes

A collection as theoretically and conceptually powerful and colourful as its namesake can often be. But unlike the real thing, this plastic isn't a threat to the environment. It's an example of the intellectual and political work which desperately needs to be done if we are to stave off an environmental futures even grimmer than our eco-present. Required reading for anyone and everyone interested in environmental studies.

--Imre Szeman, Institute for Environment, Conservation and Sustainability