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Youth's brilliance and their fascination with the wickedness of plastic pollution are forming shoals of abundant possibility and collective futurity amid the rising tides of environmental destruction hitting Bahía de los Ángeles, México. Working in an entangled community with professional scientists, government conservationists, traditional outdoor educators, store owners, school principals, chefs, artists, and family this group of youth (ages 7-17) labor and dream as scientists and cartographers of the future. They voice unpopular questions and concerns, embody lives they mourn leaving behind but understand can't persist, demand more from adults and tourists, labor for imperfect data that they hope will hold community accountability, and (re)map community infrastructure, tracts of refuse, flows of water, chains of fossil fuel transport, food systems, and fishing practices. Despite these undeniable contributions, often adult partners in this work are still slow to take youth thinking and resistance seriously---it is easier to mediate on shortcomings or flaws in youths' epistemologies. Ignoring these sophisticated shoals is a flagrant dismissal of the pluralist thought and perspective required to attend, nonetheless halt, environmental injustices. As adults labor on/for youths' futures there should be a constant disruption of who holds expertise and why and rigorous attention given to youth voice.

Fowler, Kelsie. 2023. "Youth and Community Knowledges Create Thick Shoals of Abundance Amid the Plastiocene." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11.

Biomass energy plants: see themselves as a cost-effective solution for farmers who need to get rid of dead trees and other woody waste that pose wildfire risks without openly burning them; they also produce energy

Utilities companies: looking for the "least-cost, best-fit" source of energy, don't care where it comes from just that it's reasonably priced

Farmers: need cheap ways to dispose of waste

Technology to dispose of woody waste from almond trees in ways other than open burning or biomass facilities doesn't exist yet, at least at the scale needed for massive almond orchards

Closures of biomass energy plants have forced SJVAPCD to allow more open burning of agricultural waste, which produces particulate matter and contributes to already severe air quality in the Central Valley

The Origami Bridge is intended to solve the problem that occur when there are mass destructions with natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes that resulted in the destroy of the local bridge. Whereas the design is aimed to substitute the local bridges with temporary bridge, furthermore to improve the transportation within the area aftermath. The design also considers the time matters during a disaster environment.  

The bridge is developed by a team led by Dr. Ichiro Ario from Hiroshima University (Institute of Engineering), Japan.

The development funding is not mentioned in the article or from the university sites. Therefore, personally will assume that the funding is raised by the university and relevant engineering associations.

Since the design used the aluminum alloy and steel as the main materials, the product cost should not be unaffordable for emergency uses. For the design, it is definitely attainable for the imagined user in a disaster situation.

The Origami Bridge (Mobile Bridge Version 4.0) is designed to use in the area that have been destroyed and yet need a temporary bridge in order to connect the transportation to other areas. So the design is intended to use in area that has earthquakes, floods or landslides.

The product is designed in the way that the portable bridge can be expand from a folded mode to a bridge length takes up to across a river. It expanded in a scissor-like (90° turned scissor lift) action, then slides out the decks with end-to-end to provide platforms for vehicles.

This design is “Made of aluminum alloy and steel, it’s lightweight and easy to transport, yet sturdy enough for cars to cross.” [1]