Do Instagram posts have an effect on the environment? This talk examines mediated responses to litter, or improperly discarded waste, as a case for understanding what happens to concepts of nature when environmental discourses circulate globally through social media platforms. Drawing on qualitative ethnographic data collected in 2022-23, the global popularization of nature and outdoor activities via social media is shown to have significantly impacted the Arabian Gulf country of Oman. In response to the increase in litter associated with people spending more time outdoors, an anti-litter discourse has consolidated among online communities as users seek to spread awareness about litter and instigate change in waste practices. Taking an historical perspective on litter and urging a nuanced understanding of the media economy in Oman, this anti-litter discourse is shown to be recontextualized according to local practices and concepts of nature through the study of three genres. The case of anti-litter discourse in Oman suggests that social media can function as a space for the translation of global discourses of nature and in the formation of non-hegemonic relations with the more-than-human world, contesting the globally dominant nature/society binary.
