Understanding experiences of socioecological change through plastic: new methods and lessons learned

At this point, the harms of plastic-derived pollution throughout the plastic life cycle are well documented in the peer-reviewed literature. When it comes to humans, plastic impacts range from the cellular to the socio-cultural. Plastic pollution is a global environmental injustice given the inequitable distributions of its harms and benefits. Plastic pollution is now considered to be ubiquitous in the global environment, and for all the awareness of plastic pollution and policies to ban or regulate plastic in certain applications, plastic production shows no sign of slowing. This dissertation is one result of a long-term transdisciplinary action research process called Zero Plastic in Biosphere Reserves (referred to hereafter as ‘Zero Plastic’), and presents innovative methods for exploring ways in which people are impacted by and responding to plastic pollution as individuals and collectives, with the core intention of answering the question: “What do we do about plastic pollution?” Chapter 1 explores some of the ways beach cleanups and the groups organizing them factor in to eradicating global plastic pollution, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 explore new ways in which narrative research can assist us as we search for wisdom about how to wisely act to truly address plastic pollution by representing lived experiences, guiding principles, values, ethics, and vulnerabilities. Chapter 2 presents the MIRROR method, which I developed using draMatIzed naRRative pORtraiture (MIRROR) to understand experiences of rapid global change. Chapter 3 shares the 11 MIRRORs, narrative portraits I crafted using the MIRROR method drawn from a case study on the Mediterranean island and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). Finally, Chapter 4 brings us to the island and Biosphere Reserve of Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain), with a “carta-graphic” case study of the Zero Plastic initiative. Here again I experiment methodologically, this time using narrative research in the form of letters to Zero Plastic colleagues as an example of care-full academic activism through a narrative practice of care, exploring how we managed to sustain this long-running collective transdisciplinary effort for socioecological transformation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., Natural Resources

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Resources

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Jorgensen, Bethany

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Peters, Scott
• Leonard, Lori

• beach cleanups
• Biosphere Reserves
• epistolary methods
• narrative portraiture
• qualitative methods
• transdisciplinarity

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/341t-ry88

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 14171
ProQuest Publication ID: 31139767

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/115937