This summer, a panel of geologists voted to recognize today as an age where human activities match or exceed natural forces and are globally significant. They named it the Anthropocene.
On September 13, Ian Angus, an author and eco-socialist activist, spoke at a colloquium organized by UBC’s geography department, addressing this proposed geological epoch and introducing his new book, Facing the Anthropocene.
Angus explained how our society is intrinsically tied to environmental conditions which are, in turn, governed by geological age.
But times are changing. Today’s atmospheric carbon levels have reached a record high, at least in recent history, and are now 42 per cent higher than the highest carbon levels in the Holocene. This is reflected in numerous ways, most notably in the increase of global temperatures – July 2016 was the hottest recorded month since 1880 – and in increased ocean acidity and increasingly destructive storms, all of which have led to growing numbers of climate refugees.
With ecological conditions and rates of change now so drastically different from those that have historically been recorded in the Holocene, could it be that we are living in a new age? Have humans created a completely different geological epoch?
This summer, a panel of geologists voted to recognize the Anthropocene as the current epoch, said to have begun in the mid-1900’s. Once they set a formal date for its start, the Anthropocene could become the current official epoch.
Angus described the Anthropocene as the epoch wherein humans are altering the natural state of the Earth at unprecedented rates. In recent years, this term has emerged in the scientific community and has bled into popular language, accompanied by oversimplification.
The term is often misunderstood to be a time during which humans affect the environment which, according to Angus, is an insufficient definition because humans have been altering their surroundings since the Stone Age. Instead, the term Anthropocene refers to a time where human activities match or exceed natural forces and are globally significant.
We have all heard about how humans are negatively affecting the Earth, but to identify a new epoch is indicative of what Angus called a “global emergency” and must invoke a sense of urgency.
To Angus, the political, economic and social systems that govern our society are intrinsically tied to the environment. In order to truly understand the world in which we live, we need to understand both the scientific principles and the underlying causes of resource destruction, namely economic, political and social structures.
Angus explained that the means of production of wealth have become “destructive forces,” altering the natural cycles that have controlled the Earth’s ecology for a millennia. As the current economic system propels each industry to grow, the exploitation of natural resources continues to increase and so does humanity’s irreversible effect on the Earth.
Angus argued that the only way forward is to change the economic system to one that strives towards both environmental protection and social equality. The natural geological epoch of the Holocene is, arguably, over. Now is the time to face consequences of centuries of natural resource exploitation for the sake of promoting capital accumulation in an economic system that only benefits a small percentage of the population.
Angus invited people to critically question current political and economic systems in order to identify the true underlying causes of ecological destruction and ultimately begin to reverse them.
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