The Anthropocene, or the age of man, is a brand new geological time interval outlined by humankind’s large affect on our planet. The frequent use of the time period Anthropocene dates again to 2000 and is attributed to chemist Paul Crutzen and diatom researcher Eugene Stoermer. It now has a book and podcast named after it, each by well-known creator John Inexperienced.
I’ve been fascinated by the Anthropocene for the reason that first time I heard about it. The concept that one species can so basically change the trajectory of a planet boggles my thoughts, at the same time as I learn proof fairly recurrently that we’re doing simply that.
The techno-optimist in me needs to consider the issues we’ve precipitated are solvable. Additionally it is the a part of me that gives me with the hope to proceed working within the discipline of round economic system. The thought that usually creeps in, although, as I take into consideration how people can clear up the mess we’ve created, is definitely fairly totally different: What if people abruptly disappeared tomorrow? Then what?
“The World Without Us” by journalist and award-winning creator Alan Weisman was printed in 2007. The guide was named finest nonfiction guide of 2007 by Time Journal. I learn it over a decade in the past, however nonetheless give it some thought nearly day by day and picked it up once more lately for an additional look. The guide was described as “one of many grandest thought experiments of our time” by educator, creator and environmentalist Invoice McKibben. When you ask me, it nonetheless reads like that at present.
Weisman imagines in nice element what would occur to Earth if people disappeared utterly and nearly instantly. You may envision Kang and Kodos (from “The Simpsons”) choosing everybody up unexpectedly of their spacecraft to take us again to Rigel VII.
The guide attracts on the true outcomes of locations that had been as soon as dominated by people however then deserted, such because the deserted nuclear website Chernobyl and the war-stricken and abandoned resort city of Varosha. It additionally asks specialists from atmospheric scientists to grease refiners to weigh in on what would occur if people not inhabited the Earth. A couple of of my favourite examples embody anecdotes about Houston, the poisonous and unnatural soil signature we’ve left and the downfall of the Mayan folks.
Houston and the story of rubber
The story of Houston’s petrochemical legacy in some methods begins, oddly sufficient, with a pure materials. Pure rubber has many sensible makes use of however does undergo from brittleness when too chilly and softening when too sizzling. Charles Goodyear modified all that together with his discovery of vulcanization in 1839.
The remainder of the story is one which tracks very neatly with our linear economic system. The tire business exploded within the early 1900s, and by the beginning of World Conflict II, pure rubber demand and using vulcanization had been each hovering. A lot of the U.S. rubber provide at the moment got here from Southeast Asia, and being locked out of that market through the struggle led U.S. scientists to develop synthetic rubber.
In different phrases, like many issues in our linear economic system, a pure materials that would biodegrade was supplanted by an artificial materials that can’t, and it was all fueled by petrochemicals.
“The World With out Us” goes on to explain what would finally occur to Houston if people had been gone (suppose fires, explosions, poisonous plumes and a really sluggish restoration), however I received’t go into these gory particulars right here.
Soil well being or the dearth thereof
The human legacy on the Earth’s soil looks as if a great segue from the petrochemical business to the story of the Mayan civilization. Relating to soil, let’s simply agree that people haven’t performed it any favors.
We’ve intentionally and unintentionally added artificial chemical compounds, and we’ve deteriorated soil quality and quantity by way of monoculture farming and different human actions. We’ve additionally performed fairly a poor job of utilizing the vitamins we’ve pulled from soil and returning them again to the place they belong.
The poisonous fingerprints of our existence embody will increase in heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants and acidification. That is, once more, in service of an extractive economic system that favors short-term achieve over long-term sustainability.
The collapse of the Mayan civilization
The story of the Mayan folks nonetheless astonishes researchers. All proof factors to a society that survived — nay, thrived — in a largely peaceable existence for at the least 1,600 years.
Sooner or later, although, that order broke down, and some combination of drought, meals shortages, greed and struggle shortly destroyed every little thing that had been constructed. Inside solely 100 years, the Mayan civilization was gone.
Whatever the mixture of things that led to the demise, although, extractive practices, greed and progress at any price had been on the core.
Use your creativeness
So what will we do about it? I usually discuss the necessity to use creativity and to unlearn our deeply ingrained linear habits and practices to step ahead towards a round future. I believe studying a guide equivalent to “The World With out Us” and serious about this new geologic period we’ve created will be instructive in doing simply that.
With that, my problem is to ask your organizations to examine what indelible mark any new services or products would possibly depart on the planet, both positively or negatively, and weigh that towards the general worth of placing it out on the planet within the first place.
It’s intriguing for me to suppose that as a result of we’ve got altered the planet so shortly and so completely, that possibly we even have the same potential to repair it? If the planet’s degradation was attributable to exterior forces, it could be troublesome to wrap our heads round fixing the issue. Being that we’ve got created the issue, although, possibly we will simply reverse-engineer our solution to higher outcomes?
