UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Gyre Plastic: Science
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Gyre Plastic: Science, Circulation and the Matter of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Communication by Kim De Wolff Committee in charge: Professor Chandra Mukerji, Chair Professor Joseph Dumit Professor Kelly Gates Professor David Serlin Professor Charles Thorpe 2014 Copyright Kim De Wolff, 2014 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Kim De Wolff is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ........................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... ix Vita ............................................................................................................................. xii Abstract of the Dissertation ....................................................................................... xiii Introduction Knowing “Things that Matter” in the North Pacific .................................................. 1 A Global Environmental Problem as Matter of Concern and Care ..................... 5 Circulation as Methodology and Site ................................................................... 8 Words that Matter ................................................................................................ 14 Plastic Oceans of Waste and Wonder .................................................................. 18 Chapter Maps ....................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 1 Pacific Currents: Plastic and Water Circulating with Science ................................... 25 Plastic in Nature and Science ............................................................................... 29 Enter the Gyres .................................................................................................... 38 The Garbage Patch Concept ................................................................................. 44 From Tools to Pollution ....................................................................................... 49 Plastic Marine Debris Science ............................................................................. 55 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 2 Trash Island: The Materiality of Things That Aren’t There (But Could Be .............. 65 Elusive Traces: The Stuff of Headlines ............................................................... 70 Dismissive Encounters: Rational Skepticism ...................................................... 81 Corrective Encounters: Reshaping Truth ............................................................. 91 Constructive Encounters: Building on Trash Island ............................................ 102 Myth/Mis-/Missing: The Generative Potential of Material Absences ................. 111 Chapter 3 Witnesses in the Garbage Patch: Intersections of Humans and Plastic at Sea ........... 114 Pacific Crossings .................................................................................................. 118 Becoming Witnesses “On a boat, looking for plastic” ........................................ 122 Corrective Encounters in and with a Garbage Patch ........................................... 131 Plastic Witnesses and Forms of Doubt ................................................................ 141 iv The Vast Continuity of the Sea ............................................................................ 144 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 146 Chapter 4 Diverging Models of Science and Activism: Plastic Knowledge in Motion ............. 149 Collecting Gyre Samples for Science and Education .......................................... 153 Trajectory 1: Making Knowledge in the Laboratory ........................................... 160 Trajectory 2: Making Knowledge Public through Demonstration ...................... 166 Trajectory 3: Escaped Plastic and Missing Knowledge ....................................... 172 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 176 Chapter 5 Plastic Species: Tangled Naturecultures in the Plastisphere ...................................... 179 Entanglements in and with Science ..................................................................... 182 Tangles of Waste and Life at Sea ........................................................................ 185 “Plastic versus everything else”: Separation as scientific knowledge ................ 188 “Dangerous Species”: Separation as public knowledge ...................................... 193 The Matter of Belonging ...................................................................................... 201 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 206 Science, Activism and Matters of Care ................................................................ 208 For Further Research ............................................................................................ 211 How to Live Responsibly with Plastic ................................................................. 213 Plastic is not solid waste ................................................................................ 214 Plastic evades control .................................................................................... 215 Plastic deserves more power, not less ........................................................... 215 References .................................................................................................................. 217 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 0.1: ……………………………………………………………………….... 1 A floating ‘island’ of plastic objects and an ocean surface sample of ‘plastic soup.’ Figure 0.2: ……………………………………………………………………….... 17 Map of major currents and accumulation zones in the North Pacific Ocean. Source: NOAA. Figure 0.3: ……………………………………………………………………….... 20 Provisional map of the chapter ‘ingredients’ and their respective circulations. Figure 1.1: ……………………………………………………………………….... 42 Munk’s model of gyre currents in the North Pacific. Figure 1.2: ……………………………………………………………………….... 46 Ingraham and Ebbesmeyer’s map locating a ‘garbage patch’ in the Eastern vortex of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Beachcombers’ Alert 2002. Figure 1.3: ……………………………………………………………………….... 48 Nike shoe, rubber duckie, hockey glove and salmon illustrate circulation in the North Pacific Subpolar Gyre from Alaska Fisheries Report on OSCURS, 1997. Figure 1.4: ……………………………………………………………………….... 53 Cover of January 2001 Environmental Science and Technology. Takada’s article, “Plastic Pellet Transport of Toxics in Ocean Environments” is on the cover. Figure 1.5: ……………………………………………………………………….... 54 Plastic pellet sample from Israel. One of hundreds in the IPW archive. Figure 1.6: ……………………………………………………………………….... 61 Wood drifter in the lab and weathered float recovered from Kamilo Beach. Photos by the author. Figure 2.1: ……………………………………………………………………….... 82 Image from “Hyperbole and the North Pacific Garbage Patch” presentation by Angelicque White. Figure 2.2: ……………………………………………………………………….... 91 Captain Moore and Gyre Sample 2002. Figure 2.3: ……………………………………………………………………….... 102 WHIM Architecture’s rendering of Recycle Island in the middle of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. vi Figure 3.1: ……………………………………………………………………….... 117 Replica “Crossroads of the Pacific” sign at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. Photo by the author. Figure 3.2: ……………………………………………………………………….... 121 Stepping aboard the Sea Dragon in Honolulu. Photo by Laura De Wolff. Figure 3.3: ……………………………………………………………………….... 122 Labeled diagram of the 72 foot racing boat and gyre traveller, the Sea Dragon. From the Pangaea Explorations website. Figure 3.4: …………………………………………………………………………. 130 Holding the wheel in calm seas, the world off-kilter as the boat slants with the wind. Figure 3.5: …………………………………………………………………………. 134 Typical macrodebris: a black fishing float with an attached community of gooseneck barnacles. Figure 3.6: …………………………………………………………………………. 136 The Sea Dragon approaches the heart of the high pressure zone. Photo by the author. Figure 3.7: …………………………………………………………………………. 139 Staging science at sea. Marcus poses for Jin with the manta trawl in the background. Figure 3.8: …………………………………………………………………………. 143 View of the horizon from the boat in the garbage patch. Photo by the author. Figure 3.9: …………………………………………………………………………. 146 Map of Algalita sample sites between 1999 and 2011. July 2011 scientific sample locations are red dots, and education sample locations are large yellow dots. Figure 4.1: …………………………………………………………………………. 154 The ‘suitcase’ manta trawl. Photo courtesy Rob Johnson. Figure 4.2: …………………………………………………………………………. 156 Sample Collection: deploying the manta trawl;