The War with Marine Debris: Conservation Practices Composed of ‘Science’ and ‘Partnership’

Marine debris is used as a representative evidence of the Anthropocene (or Capitalocene, and Chthulucene) that requires new thinking and practices. At this time, the mainstream narrative related to marine debris assumes that we are at war with marine debris. Here, “war” is not a mere metaphor that this study invented, but a discourse and a real used by various actors, including ambitions and practices to change our world. This study aims to explore this war situation in which marine debris is regarded as an ‘enemy’ of human beings. In particular, it analyzes how the situational awareness, strategy, justification, and practices of war are weaving a world and what it means through ethnographical methodology. As a result, it was examined that the war against marine debris is being waged through the relationship of ‘partnership’ on the basis of ‘science’. Science and partnership create the paradox of war not being fought by imagining one humanity. This paradox makes it possible to seek common action, but at the same time erase the possibility of politics embedded in the relationship with marine debris. This study examines the possibilities and limitations of the politics of marine debris by contemplating the contradiction of the war against marine debris.