Plastic in Nature: Understanding Plastic in its Sociohistorical Context

Abstract

for-Understanding Plastic: Plastic and its Socio-historical Context Ian Francisco Morell This article explores the proliferation of plastic in the modern era, especially as it relates to nature. Using the text The Ecological Rift along with Capitalism in the Web of Life, this article first attempts to understand the nature-society dialectic and how capital relations have produced changes in natural systems and vice versa. Then, using the texts Land of Desire along with American Plastic: A Cultural History, this article contextualizes the productive and cultural relations which underpin plastic production and its eventual fate as pollution. Finally, this article concludes with an attempt to synthesize these texts to understand plastic pollution as a world-transforming phenomenon with long-term, uncertain effects.