ME 273 Study Guide - Final Guide: Paul J. Crutzen, Anthropocene, Adam Kadmon
2 May 2018
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The Anthropocene
why many scientists consider that we are now in a new geological era
known as the Anthropocene, and discuss the different dimensions of the
Anthropocene, accounting for key problems/issues emerging from the
Thermocene, the Thanatocene, the Agnotocene, the Capitalocene, and the
Polemocene.
The word “Anthropocene” is a combination of two words, “Anthropos”
meaning “human” or something related to humans and “cene” means
“age” or “era”. This word is used to refer to the current geological age, in
which human activities are affecting nature and humans have become the
dominators of the earth. Most of the human impact on nature is due to
mechanization and industrialization. These processes require carbon fuels,
which during consumption, produce carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide
contributes to the pollution of the environment, affecting nature. In
addition, other harmful chemicals are also emitted during industrial
processes, which cause the degradation of the environment. This messing
up with nature is what the most important aspect of the Anthropocene is.
These human activities that affect nature are responsible for the
Anthropocene. As a result of these activities, many species of animals,
plants and other living creatures are likely to become extinct.
The Nobel Award-Winning Atmospheric Scientist, Paul Crutzen claimed
the end of the Holocene, the preceding period of the current geological
age, which lasted for about 11,500 years. Also, he named the current
geological age as the Anthropocene, The age in which human impact on
nature is at its peak in the history of the world. Though the actions of the
humans were for the good of themselves, these were highly destructive for
the our environment and nature. Many of the current ecological and
environmental problems are attributed towards the advent of the
Anthropocene, including Global Warming, Desertification of Lands and
the Erosion of Soil, rendering the earth useless for farming and growing
crops.
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Now I shall address the Second Part of the Assignment Prompt, which
asks for key problems and issues that were prevalent in the Thermocene,
Thanatocene, Agnotocene, Capitalocene and Polemocene.
THERMOCENE:
‘Thermos” means “heat”. Thermocene is related to the Temperature
changes in our environment which are harmful, and their causes can be
traced back to the human activities which include the emission of industrial
waste including harmful chemicals and gases that pollute the air and due to
the greenhouse effect, trap heat. This trapped heat contributes to the
overall increase in the temperature of the Earth. Such a phenomenon is
termed as Global Warming. The increase in global temperature will lead to
the ice caps and glaciers to melt, and subsequently, the sea level will rise,
threatening the lands which are at low height from the sea level.
Thermocene is characterized by the greedy, selfish and individualistic
attitude of the capitalists and the industrialists. They were interested in just
generating the profit for themselves and were not at all concerned about
the nature and environment that was suffering the consequences of their
actions.
When we see the history of the Thermocene, we see that throughout time,
the sources of energy were never replaced, that is, there was no energy
transition. As it is said by Bournuoille and Ferroze,
“The bad news is that, if history teaches us one thing, it is that there never has
been an energy transition. There was not a movement from wood to coal,
then from coal to oil, then from oil to nuclear. The history of energy is not
one of transitions, but rather of successive additions of new sources of
primary energy.”1
From this excerpt of the Book, it can be said that instead of the change in
the primary sources of energy, the newly discovered sources as well as the
old sources are still being used today. It is due to the abundance of coal
that countries don’t stop using it for energy consumption. This adds to the
environmental pollution.
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Also, the concept of energy transition is just a popularized word made by
Think Tanks to dispel the concerns about energy crisis. However this
concept was not materialized but only under harsh circumstances. Some of
the examples of ‘energy transitions’ under such circumstances, are that of
North Korea and Cuba. North Korean Agriculture which was based on
mechanization and chemicals, suffered heavily due to deprivation of Soviet
oil between 1992 and 1998. When it reserved the oil for its military, a 3 to 5
percent of the population suffered due to famine, after which North Korea
called for International Food Aid. The Cubans faced a similar issue. They
1 Trans: Fernbach, David. Bonneuil, Christophe & Fressoz, Jean-Baptiste. 2016. The
Shock of the Anthropocene, The Earth, History and Us: Thermocene: A Political History
of CO2. Pg. 69
too were deprived of Soviet Oil and were under US embargo, so they
introduced certain measures for energy saving. Reduction in the Industrial
Working hours, encouragement for the use of bicycles and carpools, and
other clean and efficient energy production alternatives, Solar Energy and
Biogas were developed, which provided 10 percent of the total electricity.
New Innovations in Agriculture were also introduced by the Cubans during
this period, such as the use of insect predators in place of insecticides,
organic fertilizers and food was
rationed. These measures taken by Cuba reduced its carbon footprint
greatly. Falling in ten years from 10 million to 6.5 million tonnes of CO2.
THANATOCENE:
For Centuries, man has been at war with other men. Fighting for territory,
resources or for a cause has always been the motive behind wars. With the
advancements in Science, wars also became sophisticated. New Technology
was developed to manufacture lethal weapons. The Industrial Revolution
also brought mechanization to the weapons industry. Now war in the 20t h
Century became more and more destructive, cruel and horrible due to the
development of Lethal Weapons. Just as these Wars took human lives, the
environment also heavily suffered due to the wars.
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The anthropocene why many scientists consider that we are now in a new geological era known as the anthropocene, and discuss the different dimensions of the. Anthropocene, accounting for key problems/issues emerging from the. Thermocene, the thanatocene, the agnotocene, the capitalocene, and the. The word anthropocene is a combination of two words, anthropos meaning human or something related to humans and cene means. This word is used to refer to the current geological age, in which human activities are affecting nature and humans have become the dominators of the earth. Most of the human impact on nature is due to mechanization and industrialization. These processes require carbon fuels, which during consumption, produce carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide contributes to the pollution of the environment, affecting nature. In addition, other harmful chemicals are also emitted during industrial processes, which cause the degradation of the environment. This messing up with nature is what the most important aspect of the anthropocene is.
