Hazardous Aesthetics: A “Merely Interesting” Toxic Tour of Waste Management Data

Abstract

This illustrated essay attempts to respond to the slow violence of the hazardous waste trade. We introduce and analyze common representational styles of hazardous waste: greenwashing, ruin porn, environmental justice toxic tours, and Ngai’s concept of the merely interesting. We argue that the first two styles tend to reproduce the status quo, but that the latter two are potentially more disruptive. We then turn to a data set about the transnational hazardous waste trade in North America to argue for and produce alternative representations of this waste, literally drawing from the data and figuratively drawing inspiration from toxic tours and the merely interesting. Our intervention is thus visual as well as conceptual: We argue against status quo representations of hazardous waste and then discuss and produce alternatives based on a novel data set we created.

此一图解文章，旨在回应有害废弃物交易的缓慢暴力。我们引介并分析有害废弃物的一般再现风格：漂绿、废墟视觉作品、环境正义的有毒旅程，以及倪（Ngai）的仅只是有趣之物的概念。我们主张，前两种风格倾向再生产现状，而后两者则较具颠覆潜能。我们接着转向有关北美的跨国有害废弃物交易之数据集，确实从数据并象徵性地从有毒旅程和仅只是有趣之物中得到灵感，主张并生产此般废弃物的另类再现。我们的介入因此同时是视觉与概念性的：我们反对有害废弃物的现状再现，接着根据我们所创造的崭新数据集，探讨并生产另类再现。

Este ensayo ilustrado intenta formular una respuesta a la lenta violencia del comercio de residuos peligrosos. Aquí introducimos y analizamos estilos representacionales comunes de residuos peligrosos: el lavado verde, la porno arruinada, los recorridos tóxicos de justicia ambiental, y el concepto de Ngai de lo simplemente interesante. Argumentamos que los primeros dos estilos tienden a reproducir el estatus quo, pero que los últimos dos son potencialmente más perturbadores. Luego tornamos hacia un conjunto de datos acerca del comercio transnacional de residuos peligrosos en Norteamérica para requerir representaciones alternativas de estos residuos, y producirlas, literalmente apoyándonos en los datos y figurativamente derivando inspiración de los recorridos tóxicos y de lo simplemente interesante. Nuestra intervención es, pues, visual a la vez que conceptual: Argüimos contra las representaciones del estatus quo de residuos peligrosos y luego discutimos y producimos alternativas con base en un nuevo conjunto de datos creado por nosotros.

• aesthetics
• hazardous waste
• slow violence
• toxic tour
• toxic trade

• 美学
• 有害废弃物
• 缓慢的暴力
• 有毒旅程
• 有毒贸易

• estética
• residuos peligrosos
• violencia lenta
• recorrido tóxico
• comercio tóxico

Notes

1. This is in part due to the illustrator’s experience, and also due to the media available through Geohumanities. We would meet the first scratch-and-sniff or audible article with great enthusiasm.

2. Our point is not that all ruins photography can or should be understood as “ruin porn,” nor is it that all ruin porn is problematic. Strangleman (2013), for example, found that ruins photography can be understood as a way to mourn the loss of a controversial and itself problematic past, and Millington (2013) found such images to evoke different understandings of “nature” in urban places. Although these images exist and can be unfairly considered part of the ruin porn genre, such images are less applicable to our project as they pertain to sites that are postindustrial in the sense of not currently active. Our empirical material pertains to active, industrial, hazardous sites.

Additional information

Funding

Data collection and the crafting of this manuscript were supported in part by National Science Foundation award #1539712, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Humanities.

Notes on contributors

Heather Rosenfeld

HEATHER ROSENFELD is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include political economy, public engagement with science, and the politics of representation, as applied to issues of farmed animal sanctuaries, environmental politics, and feminism in academia.

Sarah Moore

SARAH MOORE is an Assistant Professor of Geography at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: [email protected]. She conducts research investigating political and economic aspects of waste management in North America. With Paul Robbins and John Hintz, she is coauthor of Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed., 2014).

Eric Nost

ERIC NOST is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: [email protected]. He is a political ecologist who draws on science and technology studies to understand how data governance shapes environmental conservation.

Robert E. Roth

ROBERT E. ROTH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Faculty Director of the University of Wisconsin Cartography Lab, Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on interactive, online, and mobile map design and visualization, as well as the use of maps to address complex geographic problems.

Kristen Vincent

KRISTEN VINCENT is a recent graduate of the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: [email protected]. She has a master’s in cartography/GIS and is currently a cartographer and GIS analyst at large.