Slow Violence and the Plastisphere

Here we engage with one of the most visible effects of aquabiopolitical relations, that is, plastics marine pollution. We do so in the context of slow violence and the so-called plastisphere. The chapter begins with a historical overview of plastics and how it has come to leak from society to the environment. Then, we engage with international work on waste management, before moving on to a visit to a wastewater facility in Stockholm, where we follow the way waste and plastics can leak through the system and reach the environment. From here we travel to Trondheim, Norway, to engage with a recent project seeking to use the bodies of jellyfish to counter the plastics problem in the marine environment. The argument in the chapter is that plastics enact a slow violence on the marine world and that in order for humans to stop current practices and begin to act on the issue, this waste and violence must be made so visible that it is no longer possible to ignore.