Imaginings
stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other imaginative accounts of the natural world
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Plastic Passport
Hazardous Hope Part 4 By Simone Müller (*Featured image: Photo by Gerry & Bonni [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons) On our way out of office? In leadership counseling, they tell you about three key considerations for deciding if you should fire someone: 1) Did the person receive adequate feedback? 2) Did the person…
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New Hope for Plastic Waste Pollution?
Hazardous Hope Part 3 By Jonas Stuck In 2016, a new actor entered the main stage and brought new optimism into the fight against plastic waste pollution. Let me introduce Ideonella sakaiensis. A group of researchers from the Kyoto Institute of Technology and Keio University discovered this bacterium outside a plastic bottle recycling factory in…
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Hope in the Murky Waters of the International Shipping Industry
Hazardous Hope Part 2 By Ayushi Dhawan (*Featured image: CTG. Ship Breaking 06. Photo by Naquib Hossain [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr) This summer, I went on a field trip to Alang-Sosiya in the northwestern state of Gujarat, India, where geriatric vessels are anchored in the shipbreaking yards for their not-so-respectful funeral rights. They are taken apart…
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For a Dignified Life
Hazardous Hope Part 1 “Remediation Practices in Ecuador†by Maximilian Feichtner (*Featured image © Theresa Leisgang) Like a tiny mushroom, hope is growing in the once-lush rain forest of the Amazon in northeastern Ecuador: bioremediation as a solution to the extensive environmental contamination. It is a hazardous hope, however. Hazardous because it relates to a dangerous…
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Hazardous Hope—The Debate
“An Academic Play in One Act†by Simone M. Müller, Ayushi Dhawan, Maximilian Feichtner, and Jonas Stuck [Four scholars stare at their computers. They enter the virtual stage through Skype. It’s a global conversation crossing 3,5 continents, 4 countries, and 3 time zones: it’s the middle of the night in one place, early morning in…
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Lives Wasted: Garbage as a Forgotten Dimension of the European “Refugee Crisisâ€
by Maximilian Feichtner and Theresa Leisgang A deflated rubber boat is washed up on the eastern coast of Chios. Once the waves have buried it under rocks and it becomes even more entangled with seagrass, you will hardly be able to see it. But for tourists strolling along the beach, this isn’t the only reminder…
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Mumbai Deluge 2017: Nowadays Rain Gods Have a New Tool—Plastic Bags!
by Ayushi Dhawan We often do not think twice before buying a plastic bag at a supermarket or a shopping mall. It’s bought because it’s needed and discarded after being used for a short while. How harmful can these everyday practices be to our environment? Mumbai’s recent floods definitely have a story to tell in…
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Hazardous Cruises: Welcome to Toxic Paradise
by Jonas Stuck The summer is over, but the holiday season hasn’t stopped. Going on vacation is how many people calm down from a hectic work life and enjoy a good time. Cruise ships offer this experience all year round in the most naturally beautiful holiday destinations in the world: from the Arctic Circle or…
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Toxic Floods: Let’s Talk about the Weather
By Simone M. Müller We’ve probably all been thinking about the weather lately. Our officemates are sneezing, others are coughing, the first one is turning in a sick note. It’s the time of year when weather-related topics start dominating our everyday conversation: the change of the season, the turning of the leaves from deep green…