Beyond Straw Men: Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of Care (Volume 4) (Environmental Communication, Power, and Culture)

Addressing plastics can feel overwhelming. Guilt, shame, anger, hurt, fear, dismissiveness, and despair abound. Beyond Straw Men moves beyond "hot take" or straw man fallacies by illustrating how affective counterpublics, mobilized around plastics, reveal broader stories about environmental justice and social change today. With attention to both on- and offline organizing in the Global South and the Global South of the North, Phaedra C. Pezzullo engages advocacy campaigns, public controversies, and policies through cogent analysis and interviews with headline-making advocates in Bangladesh, Kenya, the US, and Vietnam. She argues that plastics have become an articulator of crisis—an entry point into the contested contemporary environmental politics of carbon-heavy masculinity, carceral policies, planetary fatalism, eco-ableism, greenwashing, marine life endangerment, pollution colonialism, and waste imperialism. Attuned to plastic attachments—and detachments—Pezzullo illustrates how readers can resist unsustainable patterns of the plastics-industrial complex through imperfect but impactful networked cultures of care. Addressing plastics can feel overwhelming. Guilt, shame, anger, hurt, fear, dismissiveness, and despair abound. Beyond Straw Men moves beyond "hot take" or straw man fallacies by illustrating how affective counterpublics mobilized around plastics reveal broader stories about environmental justice and social change. Inspired by on- and offline organizing in the Global South and the Global South of the North, Phaedra C. Pezzullo engages public controversies and policies through analysis of hashtag activism, campaign materials, and podcast interviews with headline-making advocates in Bangladesh, Kenya, the United States, and Vietnam. She argues that plastics have become an articulator of crisis and an entry point into the contested environmental politics of carbon-heavy masculinity, carceral policies, planetary fatalism, eco-ableism, greenwashing, marine life endangerment, pollution colonialism, and waste imperialism. Attuned to plastic attachments, Beyond Straw Men illustrates how everyday people resist unsustainable patterns of the plastics-industrial complex through imperfect but impactful networked cultures of care. Addressing plastics can feel overwhelming. Guilt, shame, anger, hurt, fear, dismissiveness, and despair abound. __Beyond Straw Men__ moves beyond "hot take" or straw man fallacies by illustrating how affective counterpublics, mobilized around plastics, reveal broader stories about environmental justice and social change today. With attention to both on- and offline organizing in the Global South and the Global South of the North, Phaedra C. Pezzullo engages advocacy campaigns, public controversies, and policies through cogent analysis and interviews with headline-making advocates in Bangladesh, Kenya, the US, and Vietnam. She argues that plastics have become an articulator of crisis—an entry point into the contested contemporary environmental politics of carbon-heavy masculinity, carceral policies, planetary fatalism, eco-ableism, greenwashing, marine life endangerment, pollution colonialism, and waste imperialism. Attuned to plastic attachments—and detachments—Pezzullo illustrates how readers can resist unsustainable patterns of the plastics-industrial complex through imperfect but impactful networked cultures of care. Addressing plastics can feel overwhelming. Guilt, shame, anger,hurt, fear, dismissiveness, and despair abound. Beyond StrawMen moves beyond "hot take" or straw man fallacies byillustrating how affective counterpublics mobilized around plasticsreveal broader stories about environmental justice and socialchange. Inspired by on- and offline organizing in the Global Southand the Global South of the North, Phaedra C. Pezzullo engagespublic controversies and policies through analysis of hashtagactivism, campaign materials, and podcast interviews withheadline-making advocates in Bangladesh, Kenya, the United States,and Vietnam. She argues that plastics have become an articulator ofcrisis and an entry point into the contested environmental politicsof carbon-heavy masculinity, carceral policies, planetary fatalism,eco-ableism, greenwashing, marine life endangerment, pollutioncolonialism, and waste imperialism. Attuned to plastic attachments,Beyond Straw Men illustrates how everyday people resistunsustainable patterns of the plastics-industrial complex throughimperfect but impactful networked cultures of care "Addressing plastics can feel overwhelming. Guilt, shame, anger, hurt, fear, dismissiveness, and despair abound. Beyond Strawmen moves beyond "hot take" or strawman fallacies by illustrating how affective counterpublics mobilized around plastics reveal broader stories about environmental justice and social change. Inspired by on- and offline organizing, Pezzullo engages public controversies, policies, and headline-making advocates in Bangladesh, Kenya, the US, and Vietnam through hashtag activism, campaign materials, and her podcast, Communicating Care. She argues that plastics have become an entry point into contested environmental politics, including carbon-heavy masculinity, carceral policies, planetary fatalism, eco-ableism, greenwashing, marine life endangerment, pollution colonialism, and waste imperialism. Attuned to plastic attachments, Beyond Strawmen shares how unsustainable patterns of the plastics-industrial complex are resisted through imperfect but impactful networked cultures of care"-- Provided by publisher Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: Care amid Oceans of Trouble 1. #ThereIsNoAway: Carbon-Heavy Masculinity and the Life/Death Cycle of Plastics 2. Have a Coke and a #FootprintCalculator: The Myth of Recycling and Transnational Greenwashing 3. From #BanPlasticsKE to #ISupportBanPlasticsKE: Pissed Off Online, Picturing Participation, and Policing Pollution in Kenya 4. Engaging #StrawlessInSeattle and #StopSucking: The Loneliest Whale, Sporting Fun, and American Exceptionalism 5. #SuckItAbleism Intervenes: Eco-normative Shaming, Voicing Justice, and Planetary Fatalism 6. Creating #ToiChonCa (#IChooseFish): Trauma, Affective Art, and Big Tech Dominance Conclusion: #BreakFree(FromPlastics) Notes Bibliography Index