Hermit Crabs as Emergent Icons of Global Waste Epidemic and Their Unreal Estate Housing Struggles
Abstract A hermit crab housed in a broken glass bottle or inside a plastic cap is becoming like a polar bear stranded on a tiny, melting iceberg: those pictures are emergent icons of the plight faced by oceans and creatures, caused by human waste excesses and wrongdoings. These inventive crustaceans...
| Published in: | Society & Animals |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
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Brill
2019
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685306-00001839 https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/27/7/article-p697_4.xml |
| Summary: | Abstract A hermit crab housed in a broken glass bottle or inside a plastic cap is becoming like a polar bear stranded on a tiny, melting iceberg: those pictures are emergent icons of the plight faced by oceans and creatures, caused by human waste excesses and wrongdoings. These inventive crustaceans fulfill a warning role akin to charismatic megafauna, and induce empathy with varied sources, dominated by human projections like the housing crisis metaphor. Crabs emerge like a cluster where many opposed notions collapse, while they stage the frictions of a complex, fractured balance. They are wild animals, and controversial companion animals, and when they live inside human trash, they show resilience that questions the natural-artificial divide. Simultaneously, they remind humans of strains imposed upon them, the oceans, and the planet, becoming tokens of the unbalances with which humans have to deal in their often-misguided attempts to fix the things they are rupturing. |
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