Ecological Identities’ Post

The Anthropocene: Are We Writing Earth's Next Chapter? The term "Anthropocene" isn't just a fancy word; it's a sign of the times. It refers to a new geological epoch – one where humanity has become the biggest influencer on Earth's climate and environment. This post explores what this means for our planet's future. Welcome to the Anthropocene: Imagine a new chapter in Earth's history, written by humans. That's the Anthropocene. Our actions – from burning fossil fuels to littering the oceans with plastic – are leaving a permanent mark. Geologists argue these changes are significant and potentially irreversible, impacting everything from the atmosphere to ecosystems. Understanding the Anthropocene isn't just scientific; it's crucial for acknowledging the profound environmental transformations we've triggered. Humans: The New Geological Force? We've gone from early humans to a species that can reshape the planet. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and altered landscapes – these are all hallmarks of the Anthropocene. Our activities are like a giant fingerprint on Earth, a stark reminder of our influence. A Call to Action: The Anthropocene isn't just a new era; it's a wake-up call. Climate change and habitat destruction threaten the delicate balance of life on Earth. The decisions we make now will determine the future of our planet for generations to come. This isn't just an environmental issue; it's a social and political one too. It's time for a collective response to the challenges we face. The Anthropocene may be a new chapter, but the story isn't written yet. Will we be the generation that turned the tide? #Anthropocene #ClimateAction #Sustainability #EnvironmentalChallenges Learn more: https://lnkd.in/d58eSaiM

New study highlights the critical need to focus on high-expenditure consumers for effectively addressing planetary boundary transgressions https://lnkd.in/eQdivnEq

The ocean plays a vital role in maintaining the Earth's climate balance by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Today, let's dive deep into the world of climate change impacts on our ocean! 🌊🔍 Ocean exploration isn't just about discovering hidden treasures and fascinating creatures – it's also about understanding how our changing climate is affecting marine ecosystems. Scientists around the world are using innovative tools and technologies to study the impacts of climate change on our ocean. 🛳️🔬 From ocean warming and acidification to sea level rise, these dedicated researchers are uncovering valuable insights into how our ocean is responding to environmental changes.🌎 By studying ocean temperature changes, acidity levels, and sea level fluctuations, scientists can better understand the effects of climate change on marine life, coral reefs, and coastal communities. 🪸 🐠🦑 Their research helps us predict future impacts and develop strategies to protect our ocean and the millions of species that depend on it for survival. — #explore #climatechange #sealevelrise #nonprofit #nonprofitlife #science #research #oceanlife #oceanconservation #advocacy #conservationist #makeachange #savetheplanet #aeonforocean #education #wednesday

The authors of Children of a Modest Star talk to the good people at The Long Now about their new book: "The challenge is that we look around the world and we find ourselves in a situation that's both dangerous and debilitated. We have a series of very powerful political institutions that are established around the nation state and divide up the world into neatly packaged bordered territories with central governments in control of what happens within their borders, but have no authority outside of those borders. At the same time, we have lots of different issues, problems, phenomena that, by their very nature, don't care about those borders that just flow and span and transgress. Many of these are what we might call natural systems and they all emerge from the fact that we live on a planet that has had its own cycles and processes going on for billions of years: the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the flows of biodiversity for plants, animals, even viruses moving back and forth. So our diagnosis is that we're stuck in this situation where the institutions nominally designed to handle problems that we humans encounter are structurally unable to tackle the problems that we face: our climate change and pandemics, for example. Planetary thinking is our way to try to move this problem forward. It's no longer sufficient to think in terms of the national – to think that the nation state can solve these problems. The framework of the global is that of a collaboration of national governments. Global institutions are institutions that bring together all the different nation states to cooperate, but ultimately are responsive not to the problems themselves, but to the nation states they're making them up. The canonical case here might be the UNFCCC, which is designed to tackle climate change. Every year it gathers in COPs, which are made up of representatives of the nation states, and they are unable to achieve meaningful progress at the speed that we need because ultimately it's the nation states that are making these decisions. This is a problem that others have identified as well. We're not fully original there, but we’re saying: “how might we think about this differently?” https://lnkd.in/gWFPgEPN

🌍 Recent Insights on the Butterfly Effect 🦋 The Butterfly Effect, rooted in chaos theory, highlights how small changes can lead to significant outcomes. Recent research reveals its implications across various fields: *Climate Science: Minor atmospheric changes can drastically impact weather patterns, aiding in the prediction of extreme events. *Ecosystems: Small disturbances, like introducing non-native species, can lead to major shifts in biodiversity. *Finance: Tiny fluctuations in stock prices can trigger significant economic changes, highlighting the need for complex market models. These insights remind us of the interconnectedness of systems and the profound impact of seemingly minor actions. What are your thoughts on the Butterfly Effect? Let’s discuss! 💬 #ButterflyEffect #ChaosTheory #ClimateScience #Ecosystems #Finance #SocialNetworks #Interconnectedness #ResearchInsights

The data is here and the boundaries specified. But history shows that humans need a shock treatment before getting into action! .... especially for thinking about a collective future. "Unless a timely transformation occurs, it is most likely that irreversible tipping points and widespread impacts on human well-being will be unavoidable. Avoiding that scenario is crucial if we want to secure a safe and just future for current and future generations,” Developed by more than 40 researchers from across the globe, the scientists deliver the first quantification of safe and just Earth system boundaries on a global and local level for several biophysical processes and systems that regulate the state of the Earth system. “Justice is a necessity for humanity to live within planetary limits. This is a conclusion seen across the scientific community in multiple heavyweight environmental assessments. It is not a political choice. Overwhelming evidence shows that a just and equitable approach is essential to planetary stability. We cannot have a biophysically safe planet without justice. This includes setting just targets to prevent significant harm and guarantee access to resources to people and for as well as just transformations to achieve those targets” #safeplanet #justice #earth #future #planetarylimits #tippingpoint #resources

Daniel Christian Wahl, thanks for this. It’s wrong to use Anthropocene when my Indigenous ancestors and others like them from the global majority have absolutely nothing to do with it. Why blame ALL of man when Indigenous Peoples have been rabidly fighting colonization and capitalism and the death of their lands, and they are still fighting actively all over the world, and have literally been killed and/or suppressed for exactly that. And if they fight it now, they will still be stopped. Physically killed in some countries and called terrorists for stopping big oil or mining or ranching or logging, or economically stymied like me for doing something that that repels western investment like giving pro-bono advice to Indigenous Peoples and arguing with governments and big business to stop acting with impunity. I’m glad the term helps others clarify things to their Western populations that it’s their fault, but it’s a massive slap in the face to Indigenous Peoples who have been fighting and resisting neocolonial settler societies. Do you know it’s not easy being Indigenous in this day and age? Do you know what Indigenous People suffered through? After the slavery of the encomiendas, after the genocide, after the erasing from culture, after the brutalizing, after the social marginalization, it’s not easy to be Indigenous in past and current neocolonial modern day settler societies. It’s so hard that what usually happens, what many other mestizos did, what my ancestors did, western-educated mestizo that I am, is submit to colonialism and Western life, through giving up and cutting ties with their ancestral and cultural communities bc of the “shame” and ridicule and punitive association that Western society imputes to Indigenous ways of life (calling Indigenous Peoples savages, witches, demons, cannibals. The word “cannibal” was actually given to my ancestors - Kalinago and Warao. That’s why we were wrongly called “Carib”, and the word “cannibal” came from this deliberate lie about my ancestors). It requires commitment to live in adherence to ancestral ideals, traditional cultural and ideological principles and resistance to society. It’s not easy to live and provide for kids’ education when one lives in a cashless society that is not connected to the neocolonial settler society. Opportunities are denied due to rampant discrimination and police brutality and oppression. Sacred medicine is criminalized or lost as endemic species are cut down in “development” deforestation. So it is something to be highly prized and valued to be fully Indigenous, living fully in connection with the land, like my clients, precisely because it means that they lived in a state of deep resistance to mainstream neocolonial settler society for centuries. So then to resist for several centuries, and be brutalized, killed, and given the short end of the stick if they resist, and then be told that today’s hellish climate reality is THEIR fault? No. Nah. That will not do.

Personally, I have never felt comfortable with the term Anthropocene. Now that it is widely used, I regard it as a transition meme to use with caution. Raising awareness of its short-comings points at a series of up-stream issues. Using the meme of the Anthropocene contributes to a continuation of a specie-ist and anthropocentric worldview. This also inadvertently contributes to a perpetuation of the deeply flawed nature-culture divide that runs through the Western cultural and scientific discourse. Paradoxically — many of those who use the term Anthropocene with good intentions are actually trying to overcome and address the devastating results of the Cartesian split between self and world. The use of the word Anthropocene as the final phase of the Holocene epoch during which humanity became a dominant impact on ecosystems and planetary health also contributes to an inappropriate distribution of culpability to humanity collectively. The bulk of the damage was done by a relatively small part of humanity— at best a wealthy 20 percent (and yes I am aware of my privilege and responsability of being part of them). The data and historical evidence clearly indicates that much of global warming can be traced to a few (mainly) colonialising countries and only 100 international corporations who became as powerful as national economies by externalising socio-ecological costs of their operation, while lobbying governments to create regulations that privatised wins and socialised cost. I personally feel a lot more comfortable with Thomas Berry’s vision that we are in a transition out of the ‘sixth mass extinction’ at the end of the Cenozoic era and about to enter the Ecozoic era as the next chapter in the complexification of life as a planetary process. The shorter we manage to make the Anthropocene transition, the higher the chances for life on Earth — humanity included! ... https://lnkd.in/eWJmicW

Your life, and all of our lives depend on the 9 "Planetary Boundaries" which are simply established physical limits on 9 subject areas that humanity must stay within to continue to live on this planet. For a summary introduction of the planetary boundaries and what it means for our lives now, please watch the Netflix documentary film, "Breaking Boundaries: The Science Of Our Planet", released in 2021 when only 6 of the boundaries (limits) had been adequately established. Here's a link to its trailer and the full length of the film is 1 hour and 15 minute, including 10 minutes for a positive ending on the 4 things that we all must do immediately if we want to continue to live on Earth (aka not go extinct as a species probably in our but definitely in our children's lifetime). https://lnkd.in/dtJ_7hjF I've noticed that this paper from last year made one lethal error in its not-so-clear analysis on Climate Change, which is one of the most critical boundaries. When it said that "atmospheric CO2 concentration is 417 ppm", in my humble opinion, they should said, atmospheric "CO2-equivalent" concentration is roughly 520 ppm because this value includes the weighted average of other greenhouse gases doing the work of raising Earth's temperatures. If the safe limit for CO2 is 350 ppm then we should be focusing on "CO2-eq", especially since naturally sourced (hydrate) methane (CH4) emissions are rising exponentially (due to frozen permafrost landscapes thawing, tropical wetlands heating, etc.) and their impacts will be nonlinearly contributing to Earth's heating in the near future, according to scientists, yikes.

Climate change is a hugely important scientific discovery to which thousands of scientists from different disciplines and countries around the world have contributed over the years. It is a scientific discovery that is the result of a huge collective effort and is undoubtedly one of the greatest discoveries of mankind in recent times.* The climate issue is the biggest problem we face. This post is dedicated to climate scientists around the world and their very important research and dissemination work. I think it is a great idea to invite climate scientists to events where we discuss economics, sustainability, innovation and the future. I started inviting climate scientists to events several years ago and I hope that many will do so. I am therefore very happy that Terras, illuminem & talenteco invited the climate scientist Roberta Boscolo of the World Meteorological Organization to the Terra Tuscany event and to have heard her scientific report on the climate crisis and future scenarios. * https://lnkd.in/eQqZvfYh #science #education #climate #climatechange #globalwarming #extremeweather #future #sustainability #innovation #climateaction