Whose Anthropocene?

Mar 29 2024 • 53 mins

The HBS hosts look for the cause of the Golden Spike.

The term “Anthropocene” was coined in the 1980’s, although it wasn't until 2000 that Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer suggested that we are living in a new geological epoch marked by the impact of humans on the Earth and its inhabitants. Geological epochs are determined by profound and measurable changes in the rock layers and changes in the fossil record. For example, the end of the last ice age marks the beginning of the Holocene, in which we find an explosion of a new and different fossils and profound changes in the composition of rock layers. There is no question that since that time, humans have expanded their presence and increased their populations. During that time, we have hunted various species of animals to extinction, turned millions of acres of forests, wetlands, and plains into farmland. The burning of fossil fuels has altered our climate in drastic and perhaps irreversible ways. Many scientists and scholars have argued this is why we are in a new geologic epoch.

There are, however, reasons to push against this label. Many scholars have pointed out that it is not all of humanity that has had this profound impact, but mostly the well off (mostly white) countries of the global north. Others have argued that the changes are due to capitalism and not human existence as such and have proposed we call it the “capitalocene.” This week, we're rolling up our sleeves to dig into the sediment of the Anthropocene.

Full episode notes available at this link:
https://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-133-whose-anthropocene

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