The Anthropocene geological era is not just the sum of our environmental problems, says Christian Schwägerl. It may also prove to be the age of humility
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What does the term Anthropocene – the proposed name for the geological era we live in – mean to you?
Many view the Anthropocene merely as the sum of all environmental problems. For me it's also the process of becoming aware of our collective responsibility in shaping the future Earth. Can we create a better or even positive geological record that will later tell the story of a planet that regenerated after exploitation?
A paper in Nature last week looked at arguments for an official Anthropocene start date (vol 519, p 171). What feels right to you?
The working group on the Anthropocene – part of the International Union of Geological Sciences – favours a date around 1950, when nuclear explosions and the start of modern consumerism started to have long-term effects on the biosphere.
How should we steer the Anthropocene?
The biggest challenge is to become less anthropocentric: we should stop optimising the planet just for our short-term needs. Our economic system needs to start valuing healthy rainforest and the future inhabitants of Earth. An anthropocentric Anthropocene would be short.
How might we bring about such a change?
I'd like to see new cultural practices arise that express gratitude for what the planet does. Perhaps then in the future things will be totally reversed. Instead of one Earth Day per year, there will be 364. Once a year, we'll have an Anti-Earth Day and allow ourselves to destroy habitats, hunt rare animals, mess with the climate and put toxins in the water.
Do you think this year's climate summit can succeed where the others have failed?
Paris 2015 may be the last chance to agree on global carbon dioxide reductions before there are so many greenhouse gases in the air and the oceans that things get really nasty. To succeed, it would be better not to frame CO2 reduction as "burden-sharing" any longer, but instead as an opportunity for a prosperous future and as a gigantic call for new R&D in energy, agriculture and materials.
You say we have to end "Holocene thinking". What does that mean?
Holocene thinking rests on the assumption that there is this big, inexhaustible alien space out there that we call the environment, from where we can get our raw materials and food and where we can dump waste. The environment will become the "invironment" in the Anthropocene – something we are deeply connected with.
What can people do to support this vision?
Don't get colonised by destructive industries. Enjoy breathing, eating, being in a forest or a green city space, enjoy helping others, paying attention to the colours and smells and creatures around you. In the Anthropocene we may one day cherish a square metre of wilderness as much as a painting of the same size by Van Gogh or Cézanne.
This article appeared in print under the headline "All hail the Anthropocene"
Profile
Christian Schwägerl is a journalist and biologist and was part of the Anthropocene Project at the House of World Cultures in Berlin, Germany. His latest book is The Anthropocene: The human era and how it shapes our planet (Synergetic Press)
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