Our Time Epoch Should Be Called The Anthropocene

Roaring Rivers

Currents, ripples, and torrents from Christyl Rivers, PhD.

Plants and animals make the planet, we take it

Here are some young men mining sulfur. Back-breaking, hard work. Why are they doing this? To fuel and supply the modern world within which, they too, must survive.

We are in the post-Holocene, in a warming period, but also quite correctly in an interglacial bit of the Quaternary. An Ice age should be coming soon, but human habits have heated things up. Also politics.

Gaining wealth and power is always the reason why we extract resources from Earth, exploit people in the process, and destroy landscapes and habitats. This is the worst human idea, though not consciously planned, ever enacted. Sexism and racism also contend.

This raises a serious question. It’s not all of humanity, Anthropic life, (humans) that have destroyed the place. The oppressed and marginalized, the enslaved and exploited, should not have to take responsibility for it!

It is said that workers and the impoverished are paying the highest price. The highest price, perhaps, though, is paid by those less visible to us, the natural beings who create and sustain the world. Coral reefs. Birds, bees, and other pollinators. Habitats and harvested. The four forces of air, water, earth, and fire that shape our world are affected.

But, with humility and logic, I find I still prefer the term Anthropocene over Capitalocene, Plantation scene, or any other. There are many reasons.

Yes, Capitialism is a mess and has made a mess, but only a tiny fragment of humanity has been given any choice whatsoever to escape it. And, when people recognize this, they must accept that all people are still people (Anthro) as well. We all are socialized to compete and exploit.

Calling our epoch the Plantation-scene has the same issue. Plantations were a sin against humanity and Earth, but they contributed, largely, to all of us being related and dispersed as one race that needs to unite in solidarity. This concept is not that hard to comprehend.

The logic part is this: the Anthropocene, the hottest time in history since records were made, is the well-known term. And, that is to only look at our recent historical documentation since industrialization began. Science also routinely examines all the evidence from millions of eras and billions of past lives.

Having people share an understanding of one term, and spreading the news and language of it, creates awareness. Just imagine the progress we could make if people had just one united understanding of a term like: Woke, or Trans, or feminism, or autonomy. etc.

The logic part is this: the Anthropocene, the hottest time in history since records were made, is the well-known term.

Rather than fighting constantly, when we share a common language, we begin to understand.

Solutions can also arise from programs of correction, reconciliation, and shared technology, collaboration, cooperation, and tapping into a wide diversity of creative minds. This means we need all Anthros… All hands on deck to fix the failing ship we have built.

Then there is the mind-melting fact that the increased heating is happening faster than ever before over tens of millions of years.

Geologists of all different stripes reject the title “Anthropocene” for varying reasons. Some accept it, as well. Its importance, however, is due to how the general public understands and interprets our daily actions, energy choices, and consumption habits.

It is debated for other reasons as well. But, it’s past time that we all agree on a term. Anthropocene, our recent epoch or geologically layered plastic and nuclear fallout, describes what we are doing in our age of humanity.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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