tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/rubber-49867/articles
Rubber – The Conversation
2024-01-11T17:16:17Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208967
2024-01-11T17:16:17Z
2024-01-11T17:16:17Z
One-and-a-half billion tyres wasted annually – there’s a better way to recycle them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535367/original/file-20230703-274753-70lubj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6016%2C4016&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/landfill-old-tires-tyres-recycling-reuse-2020571027">Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Production of natural rubber has claimed over 4 million hectares of forest in south-east Asia since 1993 according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06642-z">a recent study</a>. This destruction of tropical forest for rubber plantations is thought to be <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/rubber-drives-at-least-twice-as-much-deforestation-as-previously-thought/">two to three times greater</a> than previous estimates.</p>
<p>Natural rubber is vital to tyre production since it is stronger, more wear-resistant and more flexible than synthetic rubber. Multiple blends of natural and synthetic rubber are used for making different parts of a tyre. </p>
<p>If more of these tyres were recycled, it would reduce how much oil, energy and forest is consumed to make rubber-based products. Recycling tyres also means less waste accumulating in landfill or being burned.</p>
<p>Yet, most rubber products contain little or no recycled material. A 2021 paper claimed that, globally, less than 2% of rubber products are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2021.109761">recycled or reused</a>. So what’s stopping us?</p>
<p>Many materials can be melted and reset in new forms once they have been separated and cleaned. Not rubber. To make tyres and other products, rubber must be chemically treated in a process known as curing or vulcanisation. This produces a material that is resistant to chemicals and heat – and difficult to recycle.</p>
<p>But that could change thanks to a new recycling process my colleagues and I have developed.</p>
<h2>A tough problem</h2>
<p>Heated rubber will burn rather than melt, releasing lots of energy. In fact, rubber contains <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542504822000392">more energy per gram than coal</a>. That’s why most waste tyres from Europe are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X1200219X">burned for energy</a>. </p>
<p>Burning <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420799000252">only recovers 37%</a> of the energy embedded in rubber, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/30/worse-than-plastic-burning-tyres-india-george-monbiot">generates toxic fumes</a>. That’s why it’s better to recycle rubber, recovering more of its material value and limiting its pollution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Fire and black smoke engulfing rubber tyres." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568420/original/file-20240109-23-rrphzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not sustainable: burning rubber causes air pollution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/burning-rubber-tires-creating-big-black-499685203">Alexander Ishchenko/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several companies have recycling technologies which can break down waste rubber. <a href="https://www.tyreandrubberrecycling.com/articles/news/tyre-to-tyre-recycling-partnership-between-tyromer-and-continental-tires/">Continental</a> signed an agreement with one company to supply recycled rubber which claims to reduce CO₂ emissions by 90% compared with using the original material (known as virgin rubber). </p>
<p>However, raw recycled rubber can typically only be used in concentrations of up to 25% before the new product has inferior properties. Fortunately, my colleagues and I recently made a material composed of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/app.54435">70% recycled rubber</a> that matched the stiffness of natural rubber. </p>
<h2>How do we recycle rubber?</h2>
<p>Recycling rubber requires breaking chemical bonds introduced by “curing” without damaging the bulk material. </p>
<p>I like to think of rubber like the mess of cables behind my TV, but on a microscopic scale. If I pull on one of the cables, there is some flexibility: it might snag on other cables, but I can probably free it. </p>
<p>Curing rubber clips those cables together. You can’t free them without either removing the clips or applying more force. In recycling, you have to be careful to break the clips without breaking the cables. The good news is that the clips are weaker than the cables, you just need a way to target them. </p>
<p>Early attempts at recycling rubber in the 1980s weren’t very good at doing this and broke clips and cables somewhat indiscriminately. Recycling rubber in this way means it cannot compete with virgin rubber. </p>
<p>As a result, recycled rubber (in the form of ground tyre rubber or “crumb rubber”) became a low-value material used as filler for artificial turf (those horrible bits that get in your boots if you play on older pitches). </p>
<p>There is already enough low-quality rubber <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-010-0289-1">to meet demand</a>. Higher quality recycled rubber is needed to make tyres and seals which have a much greater value in the global market and so could incentivise more rubber recycling worldwide.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close-up view of a crumb rubber surface in a playground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568419/original/file-20240109-23-flo0lf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Useful for artificial turf, playgrounds and… not much else.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mason-hand-trowel-spreading-leveling-soft-2296421405">Anastasija Vujic/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the University of Bradford, we selectively broke down rubber using a technology developed by collaborators at Sichuan University in China over the past 30 years that shears away the “clips” and leaves the “cables”, producing a kind of powder that could be used to make new rubber products. By keeping the cables intact, the powder more closely matches the properties of virgin rubber.</p>
<h2>A circular solution</h2>
<p>Ultimately, the amount of virgin rubber that can be replaced by these new recycling methods will depend upon manufacturers, and turning the powder into products will require further work. Tyres contain a complex mix of synthetic and natural rubber, fillers, processing oils and other chemical additives. </p>
<p>Similar to plastic recycling, it’s hard to tell apart and separate different types of rubber before recycling. We found a huge range of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993722000380">rubber and metal impurities</a> in rubber waste sent to recycling facilities in China.</p>
<p>Tyre manufacturers have set <a href="https://blackcycle-project.eu/">targets</a> for increasing the recycled rubber content of their products. Figuring out the best way to blend recycled rubber with virgin rubber to match the quality of existing products will require their input.</p>
<p>In future, with sufficient funding, my colleagues and I hope to study what happens to the chemistry of rubber as it is recycled. This could encourage more manufacturers to trust and accept recycled rubber in their products.</p>
<p>Today, defunct tyres are still treated as waste and cost money to dispose of. But if recycled tyres can be used in the making of high-value products, they will finally be seen as a valuable resource. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hand cupping a black powder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568423/original/file-20240109-17-bzmvli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recycled rubber powder.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/borispol-ukraine-august-14-2015-workers-1723640854">Vitaliy Holovin/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An increase in the material value of waste tyres would prevent their <a href="https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/23655485.company-fined-10-000-judge-slams-illegal-tyre-storage/">illegal storage</a>, which can lead to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-55042282">toxic fires</a>. More uses for recycled tyres could also help prevent the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-waste-tyres-insight-idUSKBN1WX0LD">export of waste tyres to developing countries</a> where they are burned. </p>
<p>Further investment could help make the circular economy for tyres a reality, giving new life to the 1.5 billion wasted every year.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Robert Innes received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).</span></em></p>
New technique could drastically improve the recyclability of rubber tyres.
James Robert Innes, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Sustainable Polymer Materials, University of Bradford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216407
2023-11-21T16:54:44Z
2023-11-21T16:54:44Z
Tropical forest loss from growing rubber trade is more substantial than previously thought – new research
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560146/original/file-20231117-28-el36oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4193%2C2785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hevea brasiliensis is grown in the world's most biodiverse areas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/worker-people-working-tapped-rubber-tree-229853572">dangdumrong/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over 4 million hectares of tree cover – an area equivalent to the size of Switzerland – may have been cleared to make space for rubber plantations since the 1990s. Out of all the rubber planted, 1 million hectares may have been established in <a href="https://www.keybiodiversityareas.org/">key biodiversity areas</a> – sites that contribute significantly to biodiversity in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.</p>
<p>These are the findings of our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06642-z">recent research</a>, which mapped the conversion of land to rubber tree plantations across south-east Asia. The likely pace of forest loss that we found surpasses <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab0d41">previous estimates</a>.</p>
<p>The global demand for natural rubber, which is found in thousands of products including vehicle and aeroplane tyres, is increasing. In <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12967">separate research</a>, published in July 2023, we estimated that between 2.7 million and 5.3 million additional hectares of plantation area could be needed by 2030 to fulfil this additional demand. This is a concern. Research has found that rubber plantations support <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fconl.12967&file=conl12967-sup-0001-SuppMat.pdf">nowhere near as much</a> biodiversity, nor do they contain as much carbon, as natural forests.</p>
<p>Most natural rubber is made by extracting latex – the liquid sap – from the <em>Hevea brasiliensis</em> tree in a process called “tapping”. As a tropical species, the places suitable for <em>Hevea brasiliensis</em> cultivation coincide with some of the world’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098222031006X">most biodiverse regions</a>. Thailand and Indonesia, for example, are the world’s <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12967">leading rubber producers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rubber plantation farming area in the south of Thailand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560147/original/file-20231117-22-xe0hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rubber plantation in southern Thailand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rubber-plantation-farming-area-south-thailand-2271258833">JIMBO EKAPAT</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rubber’s impact on forests</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12967">reviewed</a> more than 100 case studies to understand what types of land are being converted to rubber. In many cases, rubber replaced natural forests. But we also noted instances of other plantation types and agricultural systems transitioning to rubber. </p>
<p>We then examined national statistics regarding the extent of rubber plantations and their productivity per hectare. Our findings revealed a global trend of expanding rubber areas in producer countries, coupled with static or declining yields. </p>
<p>Low yields are partly due to tapping less frequently in countries where prices are relatively low – though they are also probably caused by suboptimal tapping practices. As existing rubber stockpiles are eventually exhausted, prices should theoretically increase again, potentially leading to more frequent tapping of plantations that are currently not or only infrequently tapped. However, past trends suggest that more land will be established for rubber cultivation to meet the growing demand, rather than using existing plantation land more effectively. </p>
<p>Ivory Coast in west Africa emerged as a new hotspot for expanding rubber plantations. These plantations seem to be displacing cocoa <a href="https://www.fao.org/forestry/agroforestry/80338/en/">agroforests</a> (where trees or shrubs are grown around or among other crops or natural vegetation) in the region.</p>
<p>Using cutting-edge analysis of satellite data, which was based on the unique timing of rubber tree leaf drop compared to other tree cover, we more recently generated <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06642-z#data-availability">high-resolution maps</a> of rubber distribution and the associated deforestation. </p>
<p>Our mapping revealed Cambodia as a country of particular concern, with 40% of rubber plantations associated with deforestation. These plantations were often located within protected areas.</p>
<h2>Supporting livelihoods and economies</h2>
<p>Most rubber that is produced in Asia is grown by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2012.750605">smallholder farmers</a> – people who farm less than five hectares of land. Rubber production thus forms the basis of many regional economies and supports the livelihoods of millions. Producing rubber sustainably in existing plantations, and avoiding further plantation expansion, is a critical part of protecting forests and supporting people. </p>
<p>In June 2023, the EU adopted a new <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230414IPR80129/parliament-adopts-new-law-to-fight-global-deforestation">regulation</a> to curb the EU market’s impact on global deforestation. Alongside several other commodities, rubber is <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12967">covered by this legislation</a>. Any company looking to sell products containing these commodities on the EU market can only do so if suppliers can show that they were not sourced from land deforested after December 2020.</p>
<p>On the one hand, there is a risk that the new law may inadvertently marginalise rubber smallholders. Rubber is typically collected by middlemen and can change hands several times before reaching a processing facility. Smallholders will also largely be unaware of the new regulations and often may not have documentation showing their official land tenure. </p>
<p>Given the complexity of tracing smallholder rubber, larger tyre manufacturers and other rubber consumers may choose to source their rubber from industrial plantations that have the resources to prove that their rubber is compliant with the EU’s new regulation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A mechanic pushing a black tyre in a workshop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560148/original/file-20231117-29-qludbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rubber is found in thousands of products, including vehicle and aeroplane tyres.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-mechanic-hands-pushing-black-tire-779811436">Standret/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Opportunities for farmers</h2>
<p>But, accompanied by the need to trace rubber supply, the new regulation could also offer opportunities to help smallholders improve their rubber production methods. Our <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12967">research</a> from July 2023 found that reducing land availability for rubber expansion could indirectly drive increases in production efficiency on existing land. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378017312669?via%3Dihub">evidence</a> that this is taking place in Mato Grosso – the largest soy and cattle-producing state in Brazil. Double cropping (where several crops are planted in the same area and in the same crop year) rates were significantly higher in regions where forest conservation policies were more stringent.</p>
<p>Natural rubber should not be demonised. Rubber plantations have the potential to sequester carbon and continue contributing to the long-term <a href="https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/40328214/Mighty_Earth_Agroforestry_Rubber_Report_May_2021.pdf">wellbeing</a> of smallholder farmers. </p>
<p>There is also evidence suggesting that rubber agroforests can support at least some biodiversity. In a <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13530">study</a> published in 2019, we found a higher abundance of butterflies in rubber agroforests compared to monocultures. The presence of birds also increased in tandem with the height of herbaceous vegetation within rubber plots.</p>
<p>But this does not mean that the growing demand for natural rubber should be accepted as inevitable. A clear approach to reducing the adverse effects of rubber on forests and biodiversity is to curb our use of cars, especially in more developed regions where efficient public transport systems are, or can be, established. This would not only address carbon emissions from fossil fuels but would also reduce demand for rubber.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 20,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216407/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Warren-Thomas receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council/UK Research and Innovation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antje Ahrends receives funding from the UK Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund through the Trade, Development and the Environment Hub project (ES/S008160/1) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/X016285/1). The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is also supported by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment.</span></em></p>
Rubber plantations are replacing forests, particularly in tropical regions.
Eleanor Warren-Thomas, Lecturer in Conservation and Forestry, Bangor University
Antje Ahrends, Head of Genetics and Conservation, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/155172
2021-02-12T11:46:21Z
2021-02-12T11:46:21Z
How the teenage immigrant inventor of Durex condoms was forgotten by history – In Depth Out Loud podcast
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383830/original/file-20210211-14-wiskbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Private collection of Jessica Borge, 2018.,</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This episode of The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/in-depth-out-loud-podcast-46082">In Depth Out Loud podcast</a> features the story of Lucian Landau, the forgotten man who invented the technology that made Durex boom.</p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/5e29c8205aa745a456af58c8/episodes/durex-condoms-how-their-teenage-immigrant-inventor-was-forgo?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-563" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/563/073b078b1fc9085013377310bc6db3368fb84a13/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Jessica Borge, Digital Collections (Scholarship) Manager at King’s College London Archives and Research Collections and a Visiting Fellow in Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, explains her research into who actually invented Durex condoms.</p>
<p>She discovered that the technology behind Durex was invented by Lucian Landau, a Polish teenager living in Highbury and studying rubber technology at the former Northern Polytechnic (now London Metropolitan University). His story is fascinating.</p>
<p>You can read the text version of this <a href="https://theconversation.com/durex-condoms-how-their-teenage-immigrant-inventor-was-forgotten-by-history-152497">in-depth article here</a>. The audio version is read by Adrienne Walker in partnership with <a href="https://newsoveraudio.com/">Noa</a>, the audio journalism platform. </p>
<p>This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights, which is supported by Research England. You can <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">read more stories in the series here</a>. </p>
<p><em>The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvwbOVMlp3o">Lee Rosevere</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155172/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Borge has received past funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Dittrick Museum of Medical History, the Guinness Partnership, the Wellcome Trust, the Business History Conference, the Business Archives Council, CHARM Association, European Association of the History of Medicine and Health, the European Research Council, Birkbeck College, Percy Skuy, and Dr Alison Payne. </span></em></p>
The audio version of a long read on the forgotten history of the man who invented Durex condoms.
Jessica Borge, Digital Collections (Scholarship) Manager at King’s College London Archives and Research Collections; Visiting Fellow in Digital Humanities, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124344
2019-11-07T12:16:20Z
2019-11-07T12:16:20Z
Soft robots of the future may depend on new materials that conduct electricity, sense damage and self-heal
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299922/original/file-20191101-88372-1kt2aco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=262%2C34%2C1076%2C644&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Interactions between people and machines continue to increase.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tecnalia/14109734238/">Tecnalia/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Robots used to be restricted to heavy lifting or fine detail work in factories. Now Boston Dynamics’ nimble <a href="https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot">four-legged robot, Spot</a>, is available for companies to lease to carry out various real-world jobs, a sign of just how common interactions between humans and machines have become in recent years.</p>
<p>And while Spot is versatile and robust, it’s what society thinks of as a traditional robot, a mix of metal and hard plastic. Many researchers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201800477">convinced that</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/11/504953475/behold-a-robot-hand-with-a-soft-touch">soft robots</a> capable of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-018-0024-1">safe physical interaction</a> with people – for example, providing in-home assistance by gripping and moving objects – will join hard robots to populate the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295033/original/file-20191001-173369-1y7qpg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soft multifunctional materials will be used in soft robotics and wearable computers, for example, and will perform many different tasks simultaneously.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Ford</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Soft robotics and wearable computers, both technologies that are safe for human interaction, will demand new types of materials that are soft and stretchable and perform a wide variety of functions. My colleagues and I at the <a href="http://sml.me.cmu.edu/">Soft Machines Lab</a> at Carnegie Mellon University develop these multifunctional materials. <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/me/malen/Lab_Website/Home.html">Along with</a> <a href="https://warelab.co/people/">collaborators</a>, we’ve recently developed one such material that uniquely combines the properties of metals, soft rubbers and shape memory materials. </p>
<p>These soft multifunctional materials, as we call them, conduct electricity, detect damage and heal themselves. They also can sense touch and change their shape and stiffness in response to electrical stimulation, like an artificial muscle. In many ways, it’s what the pioneering researchers <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Iky0yNkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Kaushik Bhattacharya</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gIS0-ekAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Richard James</a> described: “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100892">the material is the machine</a>.” </p>
<h2>Making materials intelligent</h2>
<p>This idea that the material is the machine can be captured in the concept of <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/how-body-shapes-way-we-think">embodied intelligence</a>. This term is usually used to describe a system of materials that are interconnected, like tendons in the knee. When running, tendons can stretch and relax to adapt each time the foot strikes the ground, without the need for any neural control.</p>
<p>It’s also possible to think of embodied intelligence in a single material – one that can sense, process and respond to its environment without embedded electronic devices like sensors and processing units.</p>
<p>A simple example is rubber. At the molecular level, rubber contains strings of molecules that are coiled up and linked together. Stretching or compressing rubber moves and uncoils the strings, but their links force the rubber to bounce back to its original position without permanently deforming. The ability for rubber to “know” its original shape is contained within the material structure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300339/original/file-20191105-88372-7sgbvn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A soft robot with a stretchable and electrically conductive circuit that is self-healing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Soft Machines Lab</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since engineered materials of the future that are suitable for human-machine interaction will require multifunctionality, researchers have tried to build new levels of embodied intelligence – beyond just stretching – into materials like rubber. Recently, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0084-7">my coworkers created self-healing circuits</a> embedded in rubber.</p>
<p>They started by dispersing micro-scale liquid metal droplets wrapped in an electrically insulating “skin” throughout silicone rubber. In its original state, the skin’s thin metal oxide layer prevents the metal droplets from conducting electricity.</p>
<p>However, if the metal-embedded rubber is subjected to enough force, the droplets will rupture and coalesce to form electrically conductive pathways. Any electrical lines printed in that rubber become self-healing. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201900160">In a separate study</a>, they showed that the mechanism for self-healing could also be used to detect damage. New electrical lines form in the areas that are damaged. If an electrical signal gets through, that indicates the damage.</p>
<p>The combination of liquid metal and rubber gave the material a new route to sense and process its environment – that is, a new form of embodied intelligence. The rearrangement of the liquid metal allows the material to “know” when damage has occurred because of an electrical response.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295026/original/file-20191001-173364-8tc296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Liquid crystal elastomers are a type of shape memory material that can be programmed into a specific shape, like this 3-D face, and then reversibly transform into another shape, such as a flat sheet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://news.rice.edu/2018/12/20/mighty-morphing-materials-take-complex-shapes/">Jeff Fitlow/Rice University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shape memory is another example of embodied intelligence in materials. It means materials can reversibly change to a prescribed form. Shape memory materials are good candidates for linear motion in soft robotics, able to move back and forth like your bicep muscle. But they also offer unique and complex shape-changing capabilities.</p>
<p>For example, two groups of materials scientists recently demonstrated how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SM02174K">a class of materials</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804702115">could reversibly transform</a> from a flat rubber-like sheet into a 3-D topographical map of a face. It’s a feat that would be difficult with traditional motors and gears, but it’s simple for this class of materials due to the material’s embodied intelligence. The researchers used a class of materials known as liquid crystal elastomers, which are sometimes described as artificial muscles because they can extend and contract with the application of a stimulus like heat, light, or electricity.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SpBrlmwwj30?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A new soft artificial muscle.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Putting it all together</h2>
<p>By drawing inspiration from the liquid metal composite and the shape-morphing material, my colleagues and I recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911021116">created a soft composite with unprecedented multifunctionality</a>.</p>
<p>It is soft and stretchable, and it can conduct heat and electricity. It can actively change its shape, unlike regular rubber. Since our composite easily conducts electricity, the shape-morphing can be activated electrically. Since it is soft and deformable, it is also resilient to significant damage. Because it can conduct electricity, the composite can interface with traditional electronics and dynamically respond to touch. </p>
<p>Furthermore, our composite can heal itself and detect damage in a whole new way. Damage creates new electrically conductive lines that activate shape-morphing in the material. The composite responds by spontaneously contracting when punctured.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=238&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295031/original/file-20191001-173358-1ffxm3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Top: The damage-sensing composite is connected to a light-emitting diode to indicate that conductivity is active. When the damage is severe enough, new conductive pathways form. The new conductive pathways cause the composite to ‘respond’ by actuating. Bottom: The composite can reversibly morph in complex ways, like this dome that flattens when activated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911021116">Ford et al, PNAS October 22, 2019 116 (43) 21438-21444</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the movie “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/">Terminator 2: Judgment Day</a>,” the shape-shifting android T-1000 can liquify; can change shape, color, and texture; is immune to mechanical damage; and displays superhuman strength. Such a complex robot requires complex multifunctional materials. Now, materials that can sense, process and respond to their environment like these shape-morphing composites are starting to become a reality.</p>
<p>But unlike T-1000 these new materials aren’t a force for evil – they’re paving the way for soft assistive devices like prosthetics, companion robots, remote exploration technologies, antennas that can change shape and plenty more applications that engineers haven’t even dreamed up yet.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124344/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Ford works for the Smart Machines Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. He receives funding from the US Army Research Office.</span></em></p>
Engineers predict a time when people and robots physically interact all day long. For that to happen safely will require new soft materials that can do things like sense touch and change shape.
Michael Ford, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Materials Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/91343
2018-02-15T08:18:08Z
2018-02-15T08:18:08Z
Stop mythologising the Amazon – it just excuses rampant commercial exploitation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206393/original/file-20180214-174963-3rn368.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/amazon-rainforest-brazil-704671762?src=IdjloaUSoAaFjLafcbz3bQ-1-0">Gustavo Frazao/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Amazon, perhaps more than any other region of the globe, has consistently been idealised and mythologised. This is true both of its societies, often envisioned as “lost tribes in the forest”, and the “raw green hell” of its environment. Although it has been incorporated into the modern world system since the 16th century, Amazonia is still widely regarded as a lush, beckoning frontier of untapped natural resources.</p>
<p>This matters because stereotypical images effect how the region continues to be treated in terms of international politics, commercial ventures, environmentalist interventions and developmental prescriptions. The modern reassertion of Amazonia as untapped nature, also currently wrapped in a globalist eco-package – <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130226-amazon-lungs-of-the-planet">lungs of the Earth</a>, bio-diversity, carbon sink – offers license for rapacious commercial exploitation. </p>
<p>One of the implications of the “frontier still to be conquered” is that Amazonia offers the comparative advantage of “cheap nature” and is not seen as a social landscape. This is an idea that is captured in the subtitle of the archaeologist Betty Meggar’s influential book <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/AMAZONIA_REV_PB.html?id=lIV7AAAAMAAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise</a>. This process of erasing the idea of a social landscape proceeds in part by denying the viability, or indeed history, of the numerous social landscapes of Amazonia, past and present. </p>
<p>We’re seeing the building of highly destructive roads and hydroelectric dam programs, such as those currently pursued in the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/01/battle-for-the-amazon-tapajos-basin-threatened-by-massive-development/">Tapajós</a> and <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-a-dam-building-boom-is-transforming-the-brazilian-amazon">Xingu</a> basins. The region is also currently succumbing to <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-two-worlds-collide-peruvian-protest-documentary-shows-flipside-of-economic-growth-64986">little-regulated extraction</a> of minerals and commercial foodstuffs, such as <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/soy/consumers/">soybeans</a>, as well as timber felling and cattle-ranching. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206409/original/file-20180214-175001-19l98ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Huge storage facility for soy beans waiting to be exported from Brazil to the US and Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/huge-storage-facility-soy-beans-waiting-16299031?src=5t4rmzFf8l0h_VnW843roQ-1-4">Frontpage/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>But the region does have a history, albeit one that is little understood. And one period of this history in particular demonstrates how such mythologising plays into the hands of non-Amazonian interests, rather than Amazonian constituents.</p>
<h2>The ‘boom’</h2>
<p>The rubber industry, which flourished between 1820 and 1910, is perhaps the best-known historical epoch of the region. At its height, the industry attracted as many as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4XiyAAAAIAAJ">300,000 people</a>, mainly immigrants from northeastern Brazil, and there were direct shipping lines between New York and Liverpool and the ports of Manaus and Belem. The Opera House in Manaus exemplified the cosmopolitan character of “rubber society”. </p>
<p>But it has been idealised, too. This 100-year-long extractive industry, upon which industrialisation in Europe and North America depended, is conventionally depicted as a “boom”, an unexpected and transitory event that transformed the region and promised much, only to be followed by an equally dramatic regional decline. But re-examination of the period challenges this portrayal.</p>
<p>Amazonian rubber (primarily <em>Hevea brasilensis</em>) was extracted from trees that were naturally distributed in the forest, not from plantation cultivation. The growth of the industry was therefore dependent on increasing the number of tappers, not on technical changes that might enhance productivity. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206412/original/file-20180214-174963-14vj1jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Milky latex is extracted from a rubber tree (<em>Hevea brasiliensis</em>).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/milky-latex-extracted-rubber-tree-hevea-594452321?src=u42Edg6u6O7AgCu30DjH5g-1-9">Alf Ribeiro/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>With the development of vulcanisation in the mid-19th century, the uses to which rubber was put increased dramatically. So, therefore, did the range and intensity of extractive enterprise, including enslavement of Indian tappers, notoriously in the <a href="https://lab.org.uk/the-putumayo-atrocities/">Putumayo</a>. But change was incremental. The “boom” of the rubber industry applies better to the global growth of the range and volume of industrial applications of rubber than it does to the industry on the ground at the time.</p>
<p>We might compare the output of Amazonian rubber at the height of the so-called boom with that of Southeast Asian plantations (initially, mainly Malaysian). In the chart below, output from Amazonia (which peaks in 1910-1912) is about 60,000 metric tons. (<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Tears_of_the_Tree.html?id=2c4TDAAAQBAJ&source=kp_cover">Some published figures</a> would place it just under 90,000 tons – but in terms of the broad picture, this is an inconsequential difference.) This is a number that pales in the face of plantation output, which in just a few years overtook Amazonian output.</p>
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<p>But despite the precipitous collapse of the price of wild rubber in 1910, when plantation rubber came onto the market, Amazonians continued to produce rubber for decades (as the chart above indicates). They did so not as a central cash crop, but in combination with other autosubsistent and low-key market activities.</p>
<h2>Wild rubber</h2>
<p>And so to regard Amazon production as a “boom” that failed to be converted into a mature plantation industry utterly misrepresents it. The industry’s collapse was not the result of intrinsic Amazonian shortcomings, but because of the cheaper sourcing of rubber from Southeast Asian plantations, which were not susceptible to the leaf blight that plagued attempts at Amazonian cultivation. </p>
<p>Although the rubber period is hailed as an age of commercial success, it is also <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265124961_Prosperity's_Promise_The_Amazon_Rubber_Boom_and_Distorted_Economic_Development">invoked</a> as an example of the chronic failures of flawed South American enterprise. That failure is variously attributed to a shortage of entrepreneurial zeal, the fatal lassitude characteristic of “the tropics”, truculent peasants and “the Dutch disease”, among many other suggested flaws. </p>
<p>The collapse of rubber is <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Contested_Frontiers_in_Amazonia.html?id=irksnwEACAAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">cited</a> as the immediate predecessor to the economic stagnation said to have characterised Amazonia throughout most of the 20th century. <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/1055/chapter-abstract/151127/Brazil-in-the-International-Rubber-Trade-1870-1930?redirectedFrom=fulltext">It is said</a> that the rubber industry singularly failed to transform the region and provide a lasting basis for integration into the modern world economy.</p>
<p>But none of this can be blamed for the local “bust”. The global character of the rubber industry is disregarded in these portrayals of a regional phenomenon.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206415/original/file-20180214-174997-thszu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rubber plantation in Thailand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tapping-rubber-plantation-lifes-background-trees-522105436?src=nWEhKQke3zCAGSfxKVPabA-1-2">Watchares Hansawek/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Modern frontiers</h2>
<p>It is as though after the supposed industry “boom”, blossoming “Amazonian society” merely devolved back into, or was overwhelmed by, a natural regime. In light of this, it is not surprising that in the recurrent myth-making apparatus of “the lost world”, “the land people forgot”, “the last frontier” and so on, a general picture of “non-indigenous” Amazonia as a land of inept and barely coping colonists resurfaces. </p>
<p>Thinking of the rubber industry as a “boom” reinforces the notion that attempts to “tame the Amazon” are precarious because of the intractability of the forest. And now that the portrayal of Amazonia as fundamentally a natural and durable space, inimical to humans, has returned, the developmental emphasis is on the gross extraction of raw materials, not the supported settlement of Amazonian communities. </p>
<p>The renewed commercial extractive exploits in the region appeal to the same old “conquest of empty frontiers” and the rational exploitation of “natural wealth”. But these are actually being conducted against the existing, but ill-defended interests of Amazonians – indigenous, peasant, and colonist alike – who have occupied those “empty frontiers” for centuries, and whose voices and presence are too often overwhelmed by the iconography of a regal, Amazonian tropicalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Nugent does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The history of the rubber ‘boom’ reveals why.
Stephen Nugent, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.