A safe operating space [see previous post for definition] is a kind of temporality, one amidst indifferent, intersecting temporalities. Our fragile existence floats in the vast time and space of the planetary, and in the shorter times of ecosystems, the faster times of viruses and diseases, the times of economics, the times of anger and …
In 2009, scientist Johan Rockstrom and his colleagues formulated the concept “safe operating space for humanity” to provide a benchmark for measuring feasible adaptations to the rude shocks of increasingly erratic environmental changes. A safe operating space would mean preserving Holocene stability, or at least enough of it to not radically destabilize human life. A …
In Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation Jonathan Lear explored what happens when humans lose or are losing the concepts with which to pass on sustaining cultural stories and patterns to the next generation. Lear wasn’t writing about environmental issues; he focused on why some Native American tribes survived with more intact …
In the Sand Almanac, naturalist and forester Aldo Leopold, in 1949, argued that ethics needed to enlarge the community concept to include the “land.” Leopold wasn’t talking about acres of dirt and profits from agriculture and mining but about what he called “biotic” food chains that are also “fountains of energy.” Leopold obviously rejected …
Sustainability/Regeneration: “Sustainability” is losing its luster in some quarters, as it should. In 1987, the United Nations defined it as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” But has what is being “sustained” become so degraded that the future needs met will be meager …
Anthropocentrism is a sin in most environmental literature. A simplistic interpretation of anthropocentrism means prioritizing humans and neglecting the interests of other species and ecosystems. To be virtuous is thus to be biocentric or ecocentric. But is this a false dichotomy? Becoming aware of anthropocentrism can mean marinating ourselves in guilt for what our species’ …
The Anthropocene is the “age of humans.” A corollary for many is an ever-increasing sense of urgency about the human predicament. As awareness and information about how climate change affects every ecosystem, increases floods, droughts, disease, agricultural integrity, and more, increases—so does anxiety. A cursory internet search of “climate anxiety” turns up millions of hits. …
“Anthropos” is the Greek word for “man” or “human.” Who or what is this Anthropos? In some Anthropocene literature, humans are referred to as “geological agents,” “geological forces,” or even as a “God species.” The first two metaphors emerged in the writings of Paul Crutzen, who also coined the term “Anthropocene” and was one of …