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Speculative Ecologies
Summary
This book chapter explores two marine environmental problems — toxic algal blooms linked to salmon aquaculture in Chile, and the global accumulation of microplastics in the oceans — as examples of speculative ecologies where the full effects on ecosystems remain uncertain. The chapter argues these cases illustrate the difficulty of predicting and managing complex, large-scale environmental contamination.
This chapter discusses two different cases of environmental problems, both of which occur in marine and coastal regions: first, harmful algal blooms and second, the high concentration of microplastics in the ocean. The first case presents the regional phenomenon of a recurrent toxic algal bloom in southern Chile, which is discussed in connection with large-scale aquaculture, mainly salmon farming. The second case is about a much more dispersed form of marine pollution, namely the ubiquitous global accumulation of plastics in the oceans, whose effects on ecosystems are more unpredictable. The chapter discusses both cases together as forms of speculative ecologies that challenge conventional notions of nature, culture and temporalities, and therefore also typical ways of negotiating or solving these problems. Knowledge production is complicated and contested in environments of uncertainty. Due to their ubiquitous existence and mobility in watery environments, ocean plastics might be understood as a form of slow disaster.