Horton Alice A, Henderson Lesley, Bowyer Cressida, Courtene-Jones Winnie, Garrard Samantha L, Kulsum Nieke Monika, McKay Deirdre, Manikarachchige Imali, Sreekumar Sreejith, Stanton Thomas
National Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH UK.
Department of Humanities, University of Strathclyde, 16 Richmond St, Glasgow, G1 1XQ UK.
Microplast nanoplast. 2025;5(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s43591-025-00127-8. Epub 2025 May 13.
Socio-oceanography is an emerging field which mobilises insights from natural and social sciences to explore the inter-connectedness of societal relationships with the ocean and to adopt a holistic approach to solving key oceanographic and societal challenges. It is within this specific context that we explore and reflect upon diverse communities in relation to engaging with plastic pollution in the ocean, one of the foremost socio-environmental challenges of our time. We establish definitions of 'community', arguing that communities are not 'out there' waiting to be engaged with but are dynamic and (re)constituted in four key contexts - geographical, practical, virtual, and circumstantial. We outline some 'rules of engagement' and draw upon several international case studies in the context of plastic pollution to evidence and emphasise the value of working with members of diverse communities to better address socio-oceanographic challenges. In the context of plastic pollution, communities have a vital role to play in terms of co-creating knowledge, lived experience, diverse expertise, and agency to bring about social change. Given the ubiquity of plastics in our day-to-day lives, and subsequently as an environmental pollutant, no community is unaffected by this issue. Relating to socio-oceanography, we argue that structural power imbalances in terms of how diverse communities and natural scientists are traditionally positioned within academic research mean that 'formal' scientific knowledge is frequently privileged, and members of communities risk being positioned as 'empty vessels'. Moving away from this 'deficit' model where knowledge is simply or alternatively from communities allows us to progress towards an inclusive 'socio-oceanography in society' approach, where members of communities are valued as vital in prioritising and addressing socio-oceanography issues which affect everyday life. Accessibility, openness, ethics and fairness in data are also essential in ensuring that research outcomes can be applied widely outside the academic community.
社会海洋学是一个新兴领域，它整合自然科学和社会科学的见解，以探索社会关系与海洋的相互联系，并采取整体方法解决关键的海洋学和社会挑战。正是在这一特定背景下，我们探讨并反思与应对海洋塑料污染相关的不同社区，海洋塑料污染是我们这个时代最主要的社会环境挑战之一。我们对“社区”进行了定义，认为社区并非“在那里”等待被接触，而是在地理、实践、虚拟和偶然这四个关键背景中动态形成并（重新）构成的。我们概述了一些“接触规则”，并借鉴塑料污染背景下的几个国际案例研究，以证明并强调与不同社区成员合作以更好地应对社会海洋学挑战的价值。在塑料污染背景下，社区在共同创造知识、生活经验、多样的专业知识以及推动社会变革的能动性方面发挥着至关重要的作用。鉴于塑料在我们日常生活中的普遍存在，以及随之而来作为一种环境污染物的情况，没有哪个社区不受此问题影响。关于社会海洋学，我们认为，在学术研究中传统上不同社区和自然科学家的定位方式存在结构性权力失衡，这意味着“正式”科学知识常常享有特权，而社区成员有被定位为“空容器”的风险。摆脱这种知识只是简单地从社区获取或与之交流的“缺陷”模式，使我们能够朝着一种包容性的“社会中的社会海洋学”方法迈进，在这种方法中，社区成员在优先考虑和解决影响日常生活的社会海洋学问题方面被视为至关重要。数据的可及性、开放性、伦理和公平性对于确保研究成果能够在学术界之外广泛应用也至关重要。
