Paper short abstract:

Basically, the paper will explore the empirical phenomenon told as the Plasticwhale. The discussion will mainly be based on empirical studies. Theoretically, it will reflect up on the approaches/ perspectives from: a) museology, b) social movement, and c) the anthropocene.

Paper long abstract:

Turning new-year, in 2017, the zoologist from the University museum of Bergen, department of nature history, was called for an assignment. Indeed in line with the traditional thought of thinking a museum, by collecting and preservation. This time, they were to collect and preserve a whale, stranded on the beach on the islands of Sotra, south of Bergen. The whale was put to death. And its tummy cut up. And there, in the middle of the red bulging slaughtered animal, it comes into view: plastic bags.

Since then, the red slaughter picture goes viral in social media, newspaper, and in the local and national Norwegian television. In the same time, animal pictures and pictures of animals inside, and animal suffering, escalates. On the front page of a Norwegian newspaper we therefor could look into a seagull swallowing a condom, a turtle with the stomach full of plastic, a fish grown into a plastic bottle, more fishes full of plastic, a cow, dead, etc.

Lot of reports and photo in social media, newspaper and television, also affected the Norwegian beaches and coastline, showing up places endlessness of soda corks, q-tips, lashing of blue fishing lace and broken acid barrels. In Western Norway, and in the islands of Sotra, they meanwhile counts records in numbers of people involved in cleaning up the coastline and beaches. 30 organisations are also organising into the new international face book group, called the Plastic Whale Heritage. Here, with aim to stop global marine pollution.