Summer Solstice with a Plastic Bottle

This morning, I travelled to Bridlington, a seaside town in the East Riding of Yorkshire to watch the summer solstice sun rise. I was swimming in the sea when I spotted an object, an empty 2 litre plastic bottle, floating on the waves. So, I swam out to retrieve it to dispose of it correctly. It was filled with air and therefore very buoyant and I found, hugging it, that it kept me afloat in the waves enabling me to bob about gently without needing to swim. I spent 15 minutes like this watching the sun rise and fish jumping out of the water (there was talk that a seal was nearby). I almost felt sorry to put this bottle in the litter bin because it had been really useful and quite comforting to hug whilst bobbing about.

This interaction reminded me of a concept called ‘Thing-Power’, a theory and concept discussed by Jane Bennett, in Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. In this book, Jane Bennett argues for the concept of ‘vibrant matter’, that is, matter which is not inert nor passive, but possesses a vitality and agency with a capacity to affect and be affected. This “material agency of nonhuman or not-quite-human things” can challenge anthropocentric views that grant agency solely to humans. One inspiring concept from this book is ‘Thing-Power’ which describes the lively energy that things, like a stone, a leaf, a plastic bottle, can hold. It’s the idea that objects aren’t just passive or lifeless, but have a kind of presence and influence of their own. Even the most ordinary things can affect us, shift our mood, or change what happens. Thing-power invites us to pay attention to the vitality of the world around us, not just people, but things too. In an example from the book, Bennett describes coming across a group of objects in a storm drain in Baltimore: a dead rat, a stick, a black plastic glove, a white plastic bottle cap, and a mat of oak pollen and how these ‘things’ produced an effect within.

Interestingly, it was a plastic bottle that inspired a thing-power interaction with me as we bobbed about together and watched the summer solstice sun rise. I felt a real connection to that empty bottle because it shared an important moment with me and indeed, made the moment more special by its buoyancy. I’d love to know more about what thing-power experiences you have had.