THE ANTHROPOCENE: IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT US - Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels - page 58

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THE ANTHROPOCENE: IT'S NOT ALL
ABOUT US

TIME TO CELEBRATE ! W OO - HOO ! I T ' S OFFICIAL : WE HUMANS have started a new geological

epoch—the Anthropocene . Who'd have thought that just one species among millions might be
capable of such an amazing accomplishment?
Let's wait to stock up on party favors, though. After all, the Anthropocene could be rather bleak.
The reason our epoch has acquired a new name is that future geologists will be able to spot a funda-
mental discontinuity in the rock strata that document our little slice of time in Earth's multi-billion-
year pageant. This discontinuity will be traceable to the results of human presence. Think climate
change, ocean acidification, and mass extinction.
Welcome to the Anthropocene: a world that may feature little in the way of multicellular ocean
life other than jellyfish, and one whose continents might be dominated by a few generalist spe-
cies able to quickly occupy new and temporary niches as habitats degrade (rats, crows, and cock-
roaches come to mind). We humans have started the Anthropocene, and we've proudly named it for
ourselves, yet ironically we may not be around to enjoy much of it. The chain of impacts we have
initiated could potentially last millions of years, but it's a toss-up whether there will be surviving
human geologists to track and comment on it.
To be sure, there are celebrants of the Anthropocene who believe we're just getting started, and
that humans can and will shape this new epoch deliberately, intelligently, and durably. Mark Lynas,
author of The God Species , contends the Anthropocene will require us to think and act differently,
but that population, consumption, and the economy can continue to grow despite changes to the
Earth system. 1 Stewart Brand says we may no longer have a choice as to whether to utterly remake
the natural world; in his words, “We only have a choice of terraforming well. That's the green pro-
ject for this century.” 2 In their topic Love Your Monsters: Postenvironmentalism and the Anthropo-
cene , Michael Schellenberger and Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute say we can create a
world where ten billion humans achieve a standard of living allowing them to pursue their dreams,
though this will only be possible if we embrace growth, modernization, and technological innova-
tion. 3 Similarly, Emma Marris (who admits to having spent almost no time in wilderness), argues in
Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World that wilderness is gone forever, that we