Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.

The field of synthetic biology is increasingly being positioned as a key driver of a more sustainable, bio-based economy, and has seen rapid industry growth over the past 15 years. In this paper we undertake an exploratory investigation of the relationship between sustainability and synthetic biolog...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	James Karabin, Izaac Mansfield, Emma K Frow
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6e8ce00265ee46b3a26ee5d71ed11f92
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:6e8ce00265ee46b3a26ee5d71ed11f92
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6e8ce00265ee46b3a26ee5d71ed11f922021-12-02T20:06:13ZExploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0257327https://doaj.org/article/6e8ce00265ee46b3a26ee5d71ed11f922021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257327https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The field of synthetic biology is increasingly being positioned as a key driver of a more sustainable, bio-based economy, and has seen rapid industry growth over the past 15 years. In this paper we undertake an exploratory investigation of the relationship between sustainability and synthetic biology, identifying and analyzing sustainability-related language on the public websites of 24, US-based synthetic biology companies. We observe that sustainability is a visible part of the self-presentation of the nascent synthetic biology industry, explicitly mentioned by 18 of the 24 companies. The dominant framing of sustainability on these company websites emphasizes environmental gains and "free-market" approaches to sustainability, with little explicit mention of social dimensions of sustainability such as access, justice or intergenerational equity. Furthermore, the model of sustainability presented focuses on incremental transition towards environmental sustainability through direct substitution of products and processes using bioengineered alternatives (n = 16 companies), with no change in societal consumption or policy frameworks required in order to see sustainability gains. One-third of the companies analyzed (n = 8) mention "nature" on their websites, variously framing it as a resource to be managed or as a source of inspiration; whether the latter signals a potentially more complex relationship with nature than advanced free-market models of sustainability remains to be seen. As the synthetic biology industry begins to grow in size and visibility, we suggest this is an opportune time for the community to engage in explicit deliberation about its approach to sustainability.James KarabinIzaac MansfieldEmma K FrowPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 9, p e0257327 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q James Karabin Izaac Mansfield Emma K Frow Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.
description	The field of synthetic biology is increasingly being positioned as a key driver of a more sustainable, bio-based economy, and has seen rapid industry growth over the past 15 years. In this paper we undertake an exploratory investigation of the relationship between sustainability and synthetic biology, identifying and analyzing sustainability-related language on the public websites of 24, US-based synthetic biology companies. We observe that sustainability is a visible part of the self-presentation of the nascent synthetic biology industry, explicitly mentioned by 18 of the 24 companies. The dominant framing of sustainability on these company websites emphasizes environmental gains and "free-market" approaches to sustainability, with little explicit mention of social dimensions of sustainability such as access, justice or intergenerational equity. Furthermore, the model of sustainability presented focuses on incremental transition towards environmental sustainability through direct substitution of products and processes using bioengineered alternatives (n = 16 companies), with no change in societal consumption or policy frameworks required in order to see sustainability gains. One-third of the companies analyzed (n = 8) mention "nature" on their websites, variously framing it as a resource to be managed or as a source of inspiration; whether the latter signals a potentially more complex relationship with nature than advanced free-market models of sustainability remains to be seen. As the synthetic biology industry begins to grow in size and visibility, we suggest this is an opportune time for the community to engage in explicit deliberation about its approach to sustainability.
format	article
author	James Karabin Izaac Mansfield Emma K Frow
author_facet	James Karabin Izaac Mansfield Emma K Frow
author_sort	James Karabin
title	Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.
title_short	Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.
title_full	Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.
title_fullStr	Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.
title_full_unstemmed	Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.
title_sort	exploring presentations of sustainability by us synthetic biology companies.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/6e8ce00265ee46b3a26ee5d71ed11f92
work_keys_str_mv	AT jameskarabin exploringpresentationsofsustainabilitybyussyntheticbiologycompanies AT izaacmansfield exploringpresentationsofsustainabilitybyussyntheticbiologycompanies AT emmakfrow exploringpresentationsofsustainabilitybyussyntheticbiologycompanies
_version_	1718375430977748992

Exploring presentations of sustainability by US synthetic biology companies.

Ejemplares similares