Islands of Plastic: Waste, Water, and Petrochemicals

Drawing from his new book project, tentatively titled, "Islands of Plastic: A History of Waste, Water, and Petrochemicals," Kinkela will discuss how the flood of plastic waste into the world’s oceans has transformed how we think about, regulate, and understand the ocean world. Indeed, the global flow of plastic waste has challenged nations, environmental NGOs, and plastic manufacturers to recast old assumptions about waste and grapple with the ecological realities of a disposal society on a global scale. For this roundtable, Kinkela will shed light on how plastic waste has opened up new pathways for historical research within the Pacific Worlds.