Plasticene. Understanding Plastic Pervasiveness through Environmental Humanities
Type
conference poster
Date Issued
2026-04-16
Author(s)
Abstract
What role do plastics play in shaping our planet today? Could their impact be so profound as to challenge how we define the current geological epoch? This project, titled Framing the Plasticene: An Environmental Perspective on the Pervasiveness of Plastics, aims to develop a conceptual framework to understand the planetary implications of plastics. Plastics are indispensable to contemporary society and the global economy, but they also pose a major threat to ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health. Their defining feature is not only their massive production, but their pervasiveness: plastics are present across environments, bodies, and temporal scales. Despite growing research, existing studies tend either to remain too general or to focus on isolated case studies. What is still missing is a coherent conceptual framework capable of integrating these insights. The concept of the Plasticene, if rigorously defined and carefully developed, offers such a framework. By foregrounding the material agency and persistence of plastics, it allows us to rethink planetary change beyond the more familiar framework of the Anthropocene. The project is organized in three interconnected axes of research.
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
plastic pollution
Anthropocene
geobody
plastiglomerate
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Event Title
Academic Poster Session 2026
Event Location
HSG, SQUARE
Event Date
16.04.2026
Subject(s)
Division(s)
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
Iacobone_A_no_cropmarks.pdf
Size
26.3 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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