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Tag Archives: anthropocene
Designing Collective Security | Olivia Lazard
Designing Collective Security | Olivia Lazard Navigating existential crisis in a time of political and social upheaval We’re breaking all kinds of records at the moment: cities are boiling at 62C, ocean temperatures are literally off the charts, and governments have increased the global defence budget to an alarming $2440 billion. War costs life, and not just human […]
The Anthropocene is a Joke
Stuart Gleave / Getty THE ANTHROPOCENE IS A JOKE On geological timescales, human civilization is an event, not an epoch. Humans are now living in a new geological epoch of our own making: the Anthropocene. Or so we’re told. Whereas some epochs in Earth history stretch more than 40 million years, this new chapter started maybe […]
The Anthropocene: Where On Earth Are We Going?
The Anthropocene: Where On Earth Are We Going?
Evolution and Climate Change Through the Lens of Power
Evolution and Climate Change Through the Lens of Power During the last century, evolutionary biologists developed the idea that power (defined as the rate of energy transfer) is key to the survival and success of species. This notion was formalized as the maximum power principle, which biologist John DeLong has explained as follows: “biological systems organize […]
Global Solidarity: Toward a Politics of Impossibility
Global Solidarity: Toward a Politics of Impossibility The Imprisoned Imagination As the COVID-19 pandemic slowly subsides, it is not clear what lessons will be drawn by political leaders and publics around the world. Entrenched power, wealth, and conventional wisdom have demonstrated the overwhelming resilience of the global order even while the virus continues to ravage […]
The Anthropocene
The Anthropocene
Reindigenizing the Anthropocene
Reindigenizing the Anthropocene This essay is a response to “Redefining the Anthropocene,” by Erik Molvar, which was published on Counterpunch on May 13, 2021. I recommend that it be read first. First let me first stress that I am not calling out Molvar personally or even specifically here. As a staunch opponent of livestock grazing […]
Radical changes are needed for transformations to a good Anthropocene
Radical changes are needed for transformations to a good Anthropocene Abstract The scale, pace, and intensity of human activity on the planet demands radical departures from the status quo to remain within planetary boundaries and achieve sustainability. The steering arms of society including embedded financial, legal, political, and governance systems must be radically realigned and […]
The Early Roots of a Modern Crisis
The Early Roots of a Modern Crisis This is our challenge: to move a world of almost 8 billion people, most involved in an economic system with tremendous inequality, a clear imperative to expand, and a chronic tendency to stagnate, toward some real rapprochement with earth. This is a monumental challenge. If nothing else, the […]
Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean.
Triple Crisis in the Anthropocene Ocean. Part Three: The Heat of 3.6 Billion Atom Bombs Continuing Ian Angus’s examination of the ‘deadly trio’ of CO2-driven assaults on ocean life. Part three: ocean warming and permanent heatwaves “Triple Crisis” has been published in three parts Part One: Corrosive Seas Part Two: Running Low on Oxygen Part Three: The […]
A Strong Case for the Anthropocene: no other species has ever consumed so much of earth’s resources so quickly
A Strong Case for the Anthropocene: no other species has ever consumed so much of earth’s resources so quickly Figure 1. Produced energy and the pattern of human population growth from 1750. Utilization of these energy sources, together with the energy used by humans from net primary production, is now approaching the entire energy available […]
What Are Your ‘Ecological Virtues?’
What Are Your ‘Ecological Virtues?’ For example, are you performing ‘just acts,’ or just performing? A new book of essays invites readers to reflect. ‘If one strives to live a life worthy of the mountain by challenging the systems that threaten its beauty, one must reform one’s internal habitus…’ Photo of Mount Fairweather via Shutterstock. As […]
The Uninhabitable Earth.
The Uninhabitable Earth. This is a book review that I wrote, which will be published in the journal, Science Progress, of which I am an editor.“The Uninhabitable Earth.” DAVID WALLACE-WELLS. Allen Lane 2019 ISBN 9780241355213; xx + 310 pp; £20.00 As set in motion by human hands, the forces of the Anthropocene – a word coined to mark the […]
Eating Clean, Green and Anthropocene
Eating Clean, Green and Anthropocene Scientists say our diets must evolve. Canada could lead the way. Adding a vice to a culture is always easier than removing it. Consider, as examples, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and the hamburger. Despite all we know about the harm we do to ourselves and others by indulging in these vices, […]
