Memo40+Abstract--sferguson

=**Memo40: Abstract**= See examples in Aalok's proposal, and in Mike and Jeanette's proposal. Also seeMemoAbstractExampleKFortunNSF07ExposureScience, also on the templates page.

Summary This research will document and analyze the emerging bioplastic technology and industry in the U.S. and E.U. Using interview data from advocates in diverse settings, from government agencies to grassroots activists, as well as participant-observation at critical nodes of the bioplastic network the research will illucidate how sustainability is conceived by different individuals and groups and translated into the characteristics of bioplastics as well as the public policies necessary to manage this new consumer product. The focus on consumer goods brings technological development and innovation into the realm of negotiations of ethics and ideas between activists, broader social movements, private sectors, regulatory agencies, waste management, and consumers. Existing institutions, consumer behavior, and manufacturing and consumer technologies interact to constrain and enable changes within each field. The proposed research documents the interactions occuring at two major corporations in the U.S. and Italy, regulatory agencies at the State and National levels, and several advocacy groups in order to develop a perspective on how sustainability as an idea becomes embedded in the tangible goods and institutions required to create, manage, and dispose of these goods.

Intellectual Merit This research contributes on two levels. The first is the extension of social construction of technology into the realm of emergent technologies rather than a historical perspective often utilized. Further, much of the emphasis in STS has been on the changes occuring in scientific fields or large technological items. This research considers the ubiquitous technology of plastic in everyday life to develop a reconstructivist claim of how to shift consumption into more sustainable pathways. Secondly, rather than extrapolating from a single cultural situation this research has a comparative component that enables an intellectual purchase on difference between cultural and social uptake of ideas stemming from environmentalism in order to develop deeper understandings of social and technological interaction.

Broader Implications This research will result in several journal articles and conference presentations in academic settings and industry conferences. The former will focus on fields pertaining to sustainability studies, technology and environment, and material culture. The latter presentations are intended to engage the individuals and groups that are muddling through the construction of new markets into dialogues on what exactly can embody and what constraints exist for alternative variations to occur. A book will develop out of this research that will attempt to appeal to academic audiences interested in technological design, large infrastructure development and the social reconstruction of technology. A second aspect of the book will appeal to persons interested in promoting sustainability and how to conceptualize the complex interactions of different fields necessary in this promotion.