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Starting with solutions: A Global Political Ecology of Algae Innovation
Nature–society scholars have taken on the green energy transition — but what about green materials? Despite the fossil fuel extraction and high emissions profiles associated with cement, fertilizers, and plastics, there is little critical research on possible alternatives or on how a transition to a green materials future might take shape. Seaweed, however, is increasingly touted by scientists, policymakers, and investors for its potential as a climate-responsive replacement for fossil fuels in industrial applications such as plastics, fertilizers, fuels, and animal feed.
This talk presents preliminary research from the North Atlantic and Southeast Asia on the political–ecological dimensions of technological innovation in the global seaweed industry. Dr. Goldstein first outlines the current barriers to and consequences of scaling up seaweed cultivation for a low-carbon future. She then argues that the bio-technical innovation of turning seaweed into a climate-responsive technology is a crucial locus of power through which to understand how the green materials transition may reproduce, or reconfigure, global development dynamics.
Jenny Goldstein is an assistant professor of global development at Cornell University, an Atkinson Center for Sustainability faculty fellow, and a core faculty member of Cornell’s Southeast Asian Studies Program. Jenny, who is also the Director of Cornell’s Center for Social Sciences Qualitative and Interpretive Research Institute (QuIRI), is a political ecologist and human geographer who studies how data infrastructures, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence mediate nature-society relations. Her current research investigates the role of seaweed in shaping the future of green industrial materials within the global bioeconomy.