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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">Call for papers</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">The Lives and Afterlives of Plastic: A nearly
carbon-neutral conference</span></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">June 26<sup>th</sup> – July 14<sup>th</sup> 2017</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">More plastic was
produced in the past decade than during the entire 20th century. We currently
produce over 300 million tonnes of plastic each year. We have built a world in
which we are reliant on plastic for our medical health and everyday
functioning, and yet we are also coming to realise that the global explosion of
plastic has revealed a dark side. Currently, only 14% of the hundreds of
millions of tonnes of plastic we produce annually is recycled. As a
result, vast amounts of plastic currently accumulate within oceanic gyres,
landfills, and other environments, leading to the dire prediction that there
will be more plastic than fish by weight in the world’s oceans by 2050.
The production of plastic is a significant driver of fossil fuel consumption, with
approximately 8% of global oil production dedicated to the production of
plastics. A growing body of research is revealing how endocrine
disrupting chemicals and microplastics in aquatic ecosystems are impacting
fauna and food safety in often unpredictable ways. The production,
consumption, and accumulation of plastic also raises ethical questions
associated with health, pollution, and inequality. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">500 billion
single-use plastic bags are consumed annually around the world. 28,500
tonnes of expanded polystyrene (EPS) was produced in 2014, 90% of which was
used to make single-use products. The bulk of single-use EPS waste is not
recycled. The sheer volume of single-use plastics produced and consumed
globally is emblematic of the planned obsolescence that characterises linear
economies. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">The complexities
inherent in the ways in which plastic is produced, consumed, and discarded are
never purely material, social, nor stable. As such, addressing the social and
environmental issues surrounding plastic requires an interdisciplinary focus
that crosses the traditional divisions between the sciences, social sciences,
arts, and humanities. This nearly-carbon neutral conference aims to
encourage presentations that articulate the value and challenges constitutive
of such interdisciplinary collaborations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">We welcome contributors who hail from a broad range of
disciplines including: marine and freshwater ecologists, artists, engineers,
anthropologists, green chemists, environmental psychologists, designers, toxicologists,
sociologists, endocrinologists, zoologists, geographers, environmental
managers, development practitioners, biologists, economists, media and
communications experts, and environmental activists. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">The conference organisers envisage that contributions
will cover a similarly broad range of plastic-related themes including, but not
limited to, the following:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman",serif"><br></span></p><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Aquatic ecologies</span>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Policy and legislation</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Food packaging and labelling</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Zero waste and the circular economy</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Green chemistry</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Human and non-human health</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">E-waste plastics</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Political ecologies </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">New materialism</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Environmental activism</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">A new plastic economy </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Waste engineering </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Cultures of waste</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Citizen science</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Testing protocols</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Micro-organisms </span></p>
<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"><br style="page-break-before:always" clear="all">
</span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif;color:rgb(0,112,192)" lang="EN-US"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">Nearly
carbon-neutral conference format</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">Traditional
academic conferences are responsible for a considerable amount of carbon
emissions, as presenters fly from around the world to present in a single
location. This also incurs significant financial costs, which often precludes
researchers from developing countries and postgraduate students from attending.
The Environmental Humanities Initiative at UC Santa Barbara estimated that
running an online conference reduces the carbon footprint of a conference by
99%. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">This conference
will take place entirely online from <span style="color:rgb(46,116,181)">26 June-14
July, 2017. </span>Contributors will not have to travel anywhere and<b> </b>there
is no registration fee. Conference presentations will consist of material that
can be submitted online as a video file. This could take the form of a webcam
recording, an edited video, a PowerPoint or Prezi with recorded audio or
another form of video. Each presentation should be no more than 20
minutes long. Simple, user-friendly instructions on creating and
submitting presentations for the conference will be provided on acceptance of
abstracts. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">One of the key aims
of this conference is to facilitate interdisciplinary networking opportunities
that will provide further support and context to attendees’ current and future
plastic-related research projects. One way of facilitating these networks
is by providing presenters and registered attendees with ample opportunities
for Q&A following each panel. The Environmental Humanities Initiative
white paper showed that presenters and attendees at their carbon-neutral
conference were provided with many more opportunities to ask questions and
receive feedback than most traditional conferences. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">Contributor
profiles with research interests, expertise, and contact details will be made
available to registered attendees. The conference organisers hope that
attendees will identify synergies across profiles and presentations and will
contact individuals to determine the potential for research
collaborations. </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraph" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">Abstract deadline and details</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">If you are interested in presenting at the conference,
please send a 250 word abstract with your name, e-mail address, and affiliation
<span style="color:rgb(46,116,181)">to </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:PERC@massey.ac.nz"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif;color:rgb(0,116,145)">PERC@massey.ac.nz</span></a></span><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif;color:rgb(46,116,181)" lang="EN-US"> </span><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-US">by <span style="color:rgb(46,116,181)">20 February, 2017. </span></span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">After the conference, some contributors
will be invited to develop their presentations for publication in an edited
volume.<span> </span>Preference for publication in
the edited volume will be given to papers presenting research collaborations
between arts/social science researchers and fundamental/natural scientists.<span> </span>We hope some of these research collaborations
will emerge out of the conference.<span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Conference
Organisers</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"georgia",serif" lang="EN-NZ">Dr Trisia Farrelly & Dr Sy Taffel</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span>Sy Taffel, PhD</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8pt">Lecturer
in Media Studies |Facilitator, Political Ecology Research Centre</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8pt">College
of Humanities and Social Sciences | Massey University</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8pt">Email:
</span><span><a href="mailto:s.a.taffel@massey.ac.nz"><span style="font-size:8pt">s.a.taffel@massey.ac.nz</span></a></span><span style="font-size:8pt"> | Telephone: +64 (06 ) 356
9099 ext. 84527</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
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