Anthropocene governance

Question 1

what is bio-power

Answer 1

all types of power that apply to the wellbeing of the population

Question 2

how did modern forms of politics and state emerge? according to the french geographer

Answer 2

through new ways of understanding the world and knowledge

Question 3

name the french philosopher who significantly influenced 20th century geographical thought, and briefly describe his concepts

Answer 3

Michel Foucault- the people who hold knowledge also hold power. political power and the state is not static

Question 4

name the feminist science studies scholar and explain her concepts

Answer 4

Donna Haraway. situated knowledges: the knowledge we produce is always embedded in certain contexts, we have biases. scientific knowledge is not purely objective

Question 5

how can objects of knowledge become objects of governance and power?

Answer 5

maps are produced from a certain perspective, certain knowledge can inform public health decisions more than others

Question 6

explain the “new earth” concept

Answer 6

the image of the blue marble gave us a whole new perspective on the earth as a holistic, sealed environment, understanding of how the earth is changing

Question 7

what domain of science did the anthropocene concept come from, and which domain is it in tension with

Answer 7

earth system science, in tension with methods from stratigraphy

Question 8

describe the thought of clive hamilton

Answer 8

earth system science= new paradigm. earth system change different to environmental change, anthropocene marks the start of a new, non-analogous earth

Question 9

Who was the thinker behind the second copernican revolution and what does it mean

Answer 9

HJ Schellnhuber-
seeing the world at a macro scale and understanding how complex systems work together so we can learn how to act and control it

Question 10

name 3 types of environmental governance

Answer 10

planetary stewardship, planetary boundaries, earth system governance

Question 11

name two scientists leading planetary stewardship

Answer 11

Will Steffen and Johan Rocsktröm

Question 12

give some key principles of planetary stewardship

Answer 12

earth as a human life support system, tending and caring not dominating the earth, humans as a universal human agent, question of who should take responsibility or have agency, possibility of geoengineering

Question 13

name the nine planetary boundaries to stay in a holocene like state

Answer 13

1. climate change
2. biodiversity loss
3. nitrogen and phosphorus cycle
4. ozone depletion
5. ocean acidification
6. global freshwater use
7. land use change
8. chemical pollution

Question 14

name the internation research institute that promotes earth system governance, who is the director

Answer 14

future earth, Frank Bierman who calls this a new paradigm of political science

Question 15

give some key principles of earth system governance

Answer 15

the anthropocene is political, we need to reform existing institutions and add earth systems science to them, use a top-down consensus model

Question 16

name two groups excluded from decision making during COP

Answer 16

indigenous people, bin workers

Question 17

what is post-political governance?

Answer 17

top-down consensus imposes decisions in the guise of participation, contestation of the centre ideology is excluded from politics, difficult to change the underlying system, certain actors excluded

Question 18

give some principles of eco-prometheanism

Answer 18

embrace our power to change the world, use technology, against traditional environmentalism, idea that there is no longer nature, we need to remake nature

Question 19

name four authors of eco-prometheanism

Answer 19

Erle Ellis: Forget mother nature, Diane Ackerman: The Human Age, Emma Norris: Rambunctious gardening, Edward O Wilson: Half-earth: our planet’s fight for life

Question 20

what is edward O wilson’s main idea

Answer 20

to sustain enough biodiversity to allow humans to survive, we need to set aside half the earths surface

Question 21

name an optimistic and pessimistic view on our agency over the future of the anthropocene

Answer 21

Andrew Revkin- optimistic. human resilience and adaptability, create a better future.
Clive Hamilton- pessimistic. need to face hard-reality, can’t make anthro. good, only less baf