Reframing Waste: Imagining Apocalyptic Waste Disposal in Contemporary Speculative Fiction

废物及其处理是人类世不可避免的特征。根据世界银行的数据，到2050年，全球垃圾预计将增加约70%，达到34亿吨，其中至少33%的垃圾管理不善。这一全球废物危机导致气候变化，并对生态系统和公共卫生构成威胁，包括疟疾、黄热病和其他致命疾病。应对这些挑战需要巨大的、协调一致的想象力，包括重新思考如何处理废物和废物的含义。我申请的博士研究将探讨创造性工作如何帮助我们想象废物处理的可能性，以及人类世中与废物一起生活的未来模式。我的项目将探索投机小说如何将废物与人类世的资本主义危机结合起来，同时调查投机小说、废物研究和生态批评领域之间的交叉点和紧张关系。我的目标是通过在科幻场景中关注废物的重新定义、再利用、管理和与人类的共生来重新定义废物，并为其可能的未来提供一个更有希望的描述。

Waste and its disposal are inescapable features of the Anthropocene. According to World Bank, global waste isexpected to have increased by roughly 70 percent to 3.4 billion metric tons by 2050, with at least 33% of wastebeing mismanaged globally. This global waste crisis leads to climate change and poses threats to the ecosystemand public health including malaria, yellow fever, and other fatal diseases. To meet such challenges requiresmonumental, concerted efforts of imagination, including a re-thinking of how waste is handled and what wastemeans. My proposed Ph.D. research will explore how creative work can help us imagine possibilities of wastedisposal and purpose future models for living with waste in the Anthropocene.My project will explore how speculative fiction combines waste with capitalist crises in the Anthropocene, whileinvestigating intersections and tensions among the fields of speculative fiction, waste studies and ecocriticism. Myaim is to reframe waste by focusing on its redefinition, reuse, management and symbiosis with humans in sciencefictionalscenarios, and to offer a more hopeful account of its possible future.