Skip to Main Content
Frequently Asked Questions
Submit an ETD
Global Search Box
Need Help?
Keyword Search
Participating Institutions
Advanced Search
School Logo
Files
File List
sasha_adkins_dissertation.pdf (781.34 KB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
From Disposable Culture to Disposable People: Teaching About the Unintended Consequences of Plastics
Author Info
Adkins, Sasha
ORCID® Identifier
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4718-5730
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1513941070990328
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2017, Ph.D., Antioch University, Antioch New England: Environmental Studies.
Abstract
Plastics, the epitome of disposable culture, pose both a toxicological and a spiritual problem. This dissertation examines plastics at a molecular level using the discourse of endocrine disruption, and at a sociological level using the discourses of eco-theology and environmental justice. Adding to the literature on the adsorption of toxicants to plastic marine debris, I demonstrate that certain types of plastic -- those containing mercaptans, such as styrene butadiene block copolymer -- efficiently concentrate methyl mercury from seawater. Further, samples of polycarbonate contributed mercury to seawater. I propose the term plastic-mediated magnification to describe the phenomenon that plastics, along with their adsorbed toxicants, are being ingested directly and indirectly at each trophic level, with profound implications for quantitative risk modeling of the environmental fate and transport of persistent pollutants. I also propose an "eco-theology of zero waste," linking the habits cultivated by interacting with the natural / material world as if it were disposable and only instrumentally valuable to the mindset that people, or at least some people, are similarly disposable when not deemed useful or productive to society. I propose a framework for teaching about environmental justice issues, like plastics, by recognizing and countering defensive tactics that students may employ in order to resolve their cognitive dissonance about being a well-intentioned person in a society that treats some of us as disposable. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and Ohio Link ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd.
Committee
Alesia Maltz, PhD (Committee Chair)
Abigail Abrash Walton, PhD (Committee Member)
Janaki Natarajan Tschannerl, EdD (Committee Member)
Pages
171 p.
Subject Headings
Environmental Health
;
Environmental Justice
;
Public Health
;
Toxicology
Keywords
plastic marine debris
;
plastic-mediated magnification
;
methyl mercury
;
environmental justice
;
white fragility
;
eco-theology
;
endocrine disruption
;
disposable culture
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
Adkins, S. (2017).
From Disposable Culture to Disposable People: Teaching About the Unintended Consequences of Plastics
[Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1513941070990328
APA Style (7th edition)
Adkins, Sasha.
From Disposable Culture to Disposable People: Teaching About the Unintended Consequences of Plastics.
2017. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1513941070990328.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Adkins, Sasha. "From Disposable Culture to Disposable People: Teaching About the Unintended Consequences of Plastics." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1513941070990328
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
Abstract Footer
Document number:
antioch1513941070990328
Download Count:
2,332
Copyright Info
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.