Lecture 3 – Living in the Anthropocene Flashcards
How long was the holocene?
11,700 years
What is the signature of the Anthropocene?
Human impacts
What are the fears in the Anthropocene?
passing thresholds in the Earth system (e.g. the climate tipping point)
When was the Anthropocene Working Group Setup?
2009
What was the goal of the Anthropocene Working Group?
proving we’ve left the Holocene behind and entered the Anthropocene
What date did the Anthropocene Working Group vote on for the start of the Anthropocene?
Mid 20th Century
What can we do by bring together geological and Earth System Science?
View the Earth as a single unified system
By viewing the Earth as a single unified system what have we learnt?
that it is changeable (with or without human impact) and can exist in different states overtime.
What could be said about the different periods of Earth history?
The Earth is actually a number of different Earths – that have succeeded each other in time, each with different chemical physical and biological states
What does the planetary boundaries idea put forward?
That there is all sorts of aspects in the Earth system that might pass a tipping point, pushing the Earth into a different operating states
What do we know for sure about the Holocene, but potentially not other eons
It is the only state of the Earth system that we know for certain can support contemporary human societies
What period of time do social scientists typically focus on?
On a tiny (relative) section of the Earth’s life, only the most recent
Why should social scientists be interested in the Anthropocene?
Its about changes triggered by humans, and they are specialists in human activity
The Anthropocene can’t be left to natural scientists. It’s a social problem, and needs social science
Society remains fundamentally dependent on changeable Earth processes
What is the problem with grand environmental claims?
They suggest that there is only one way to view or understand the Earth, and only one group have all the knowledge
What happens to rights and freedoms in states of emergencies?
They’re heavily limited
What political system is usually favoured in states of emergency?
Democratic decision making is often suspended in favour of authoritarian, top-down rule
What happened after Hurricane Katrina?
The military took control
When was Hurricane Katrina?
2005
What was the problem with the military taking over after Hurricane Katrina?
the military taking control took priority over caring for people, helping them and seeing that they had their needs met
What is the problem with Authoritarian control?
People’s lives and looking after ordinary people comes second
What decision do social scientist’s fear governments would make if a climate state of emergency was declared?
Regimes could make the decision that it’s to late to save the planet politically, and instead turn towards attempting to engineer the entire global climate
What do indigenous scholars argue that climate change and the Anthropocene is a result of?
colonial exploitation coming back to the West
What have indigenous people already lived through?
destructions of ecosystems, homes and their way of life, arguably they have lived through what we would describe as ‘the end of the world’
What is happening to the relationship between social and natural science, and where will it end?
It is shifting, but it is too soon to say where it’ll end up
What is happening to the relationship between Western thought and other ways of thinking about the Earth and where will it end?
It is shifting, and we don’t know where it’ll end up.
Has the word Anthropocene been defined officially?
No
How have all previous eras, periods and epochs been defined?
By comparing one set of rock strata with another
What is different about the Anthropocene compared to previous eras?
We are (formally or informally) living within it, and are able to observe many different characteristics (landscape, biodiversity, atmospheric composition, etc)
Can geologists alone define the Anthropocene?
No, we must use botanists, zoologists, atmospheric, and ocean scientists as well as geologists.
What does the Anthropocene represent, and what does this mean?
A new phase in the history of both humankind and of the Earth, when natural forces and human forces became intertwined, so that the fate of one determines the fate of the other.
