Co-learning approaches to talking and thinking about “peecycling”: Perspectives on communication, education, and practice

Narratives of linearity and control have driven conventional wastewater management and modern agriculture, resulting in widespread contamination and ecological damage. In response, a growing movement to reclaim the nutrient cycle emphasizes circularity and the entanglements between our bodies, the “shadow places” where our “waste” travels, and the ecosystems that sustain us. Parallel linear narratives of diffusionist knowledge dissemination have resulted in distrust between communities and scientists, but some researchers and practitioners are rebuilding trust through connections that emphasize accessibility, accountability, active learning and co-creation spanning rural and urban, campus, and civic contexts. From study sites in Vermont and Michigan, we explore urine recycling (or peecycling as some call it) as an example of both technological and pedagogical connections re-made, arguing that active learning methods can undergird engaged research. Urine recycling has the potential to foster curiosity about ecological interconnections and imaginative thinking about alternate infrastructural futures. Our evidence comes from interviews and focus groups, as well as participant observation at site-based interventions and in experiential learning contexts. We show that the advent of more circular economies, implemented with co-learning, advances both theory and practices of postmodern, and post–postmodern infrastructures. That is, rather than reinforcing a one-way flow of information that mirrors the linearity of conventional wastewater management, co-learning approaches—where scientists and practitioners are partners in generating knowledge and solutions—address the environmental, equity, and ethical aspects of reclaiming circular nutrient flows, transforming relationships between our bodies, waterways, and foodsheds.