Page - 234 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

To conclude, we reflect on the risks of microplastics for ecosystems and our health, bydrawingon thequestionsBeckonce asked: Howworried shouldwebe?Where is the linebetweenprudent concern andcrippling fear andhysteria? [8] Concerns about microplastics in our food and subsequent health effects, trig- gered bymedia reports, lead to social risk amplification,whichmaybedispropor- tionate toother risks associatedwith plastics, such as environmental accumulation or the endocrine effects of plasticizers. There is no need for “hysteria” (to quote Beck).Nevertheless,weshould take the (micro)plastics issueasaserioussymptom ofhuman-madeenvironmentalchange.Plasticpollutionisavisibleexampleofhow societyandnature interact,and itunveilsour relationshipwithnature.Whatkindof naturedowewantandhowdowewant tolive?Wehavetoexploretheintersections betweenglobal risks, power relations, andsocietal relationswithnature ifwewant to bring about their sustainable transformation. Funding Theauthors aremembers of the junior researchgroup“PlastX–Plastics as a systemic risk for social-ecological supply systems”which is funded by theGerman FederalMinistry for Education andResearch (BMBF) as part of the program“Research for sustainable development (FONA).” In FONA, PlastX belongs to the funding priority “SO¨F – Social-ecological research” within the funding area “Junior researchgroups in social-ecological research.” References 1.RennO(2008)Concepts of risk: an interdisciplinary review.GAIA-EcolPerspectSciSoc17 (1):50–66 2.Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der BundesregierungGlobale Umweltvera¨nderungen (1998)Welt im Wandel: Strategien zur Bewa¨ltigung globaler Umweltrisiken: Jahresgutachten 1998. Springer,Berlin 3.Renn O, Keil F (2008) Systemische Risiken: Versuch einer Charakterisierung. GAIA-Ecol Perspect Sci Soc17(4):349–354 4.HummelD, JahnT,SchrammE(2011)Social-ecological analysisofclimate inducedchanges inbiodiversity:outlineofaresearchconcept.KnowledgeFlowPaper.Biodiversita¨tundKlima Forschungszentrum11: 1–15 5.RennO, Schweizer P-J, DreyerMet al (2007)Risiko: U¨ber den gesellschaftlichenUmgang mitUnsicherheit. oekom,München 6.SybergK,HansenSF,ChristensenTB,KhanFR (2017)Risk perception of plastic pollution: Importance of stakeholder involvement and citizen science. In:WagnerM, Lambert S (eds) Freshwater microplastics: emerging environmental contaminants? Springer, Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-61615-5_10 (in this volume) 7. International Risk Governance Council (2005) Risk governance: towards an integrative approach.WhitePaper,Genf 8.BeckU(2006)Living in theworld risk society. EconSoc35(3):329–345 9.Keil F,BechmannG,KümmererKet al (2008)Systemic riskgovernance for pharmaceutical residues in drinkingwater.GAIA-Ecol Perspect Sci Soc17(4):355–361 10.KlinkeA,RennO(2006)Systemicrisksaschallengeforpolicymakinginriskgovernance. In: Forumqualitative sozialforschung/forum: qualitativeSocialResearch,Vol 1 234 J.KrammandC.V€olker