Modest Interventions': Towards an Ontological Account of Environmental Science Through the Case of Acid Sulfate Soils (Science‪)‬

Within this article I adopt Donna Haraway's notion of the 'modest witness': a trope through which she identifies the shortcomings of modern Western science and gestures towards the patterns that a more heterogeneous and reflexive science may form. Through this framework I present an ontological narrative of the acid sulfate soils, a contemporary environmental problem, and the innovative scientific procedures that have been used to identify and manage its effects. In doing so I partake in a recent progressive trend within science studies scholarship which looks towards a new metaphysics of science that is potentially better suited to the technoscientific challenges faced by our current world order. *********