Summary
Today, humanity’s effect on the planet’s ecosystems is so pervasive and dynamic that it may be compared to the power of some of nature’s most formidable forces. However, the term Anthropocene, which was established around a decade ago, has only lately been widely, though informally, used in the global change study community. This is despite the fact that human effect on the environment at a global scale has been recognized since the 1800s. However, the word has not yet been officially adopted as a new period in Earth’s geological history.
An unofficial geological epoch, the Anthropocene epoch, is the third global division of the quaternary Period. Anthropocene is defined as the era during which widespread human activity by homo sapiens began to significantly alter Earth’s surface, atmosphere, oceans, and nutrient cycling (Verges 7). It has been suggested that the Anthropocene began at any time between the Industrial Revolution, dating back to 12,000–15,000 years ago and the 1960s (Malm, Andreas, and Hornborg 63). A final decision has not yet been made because the ratification process is still in progress. However, the peak in radionuclides’ fallout from atomic bomb testing in the 1950s has been favored over others, suggesting that the Anthropocene could have begun during this time (Malm, Andreas, and Hornborg 63). There is a rising body of scientific opinion that proposes 1950 as the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch, which would follow the Holocene Epoch about 11,700 years ago to the present (Verges 9). However, all these proposals cannot be proved; thus, there is a need for further studies.
Human activity in the early modern era had a significant influence on carbon and methane in Earth’s atmosphere, and this is often regarded as the point at which the phenomenon first emerged. A minority of scientists argue that 1945 should mark the start of the Anthropocene (Malm, Andreas, and Hornborg 63). That is when humans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan after conducting the first atomic bomb test. Radioactive particles produced as a consequence were found in soil samples all around the world.
Article Critique
In the article by Francoise Verges on Racial Capitalocene, the author focuses on explaining the under-theorized relationship that exists between the global capital economy, racial subordination, and environmental degradation. This critique will, however, explain the links that exist between social justice movements that aim to acquire changes in the environment and the seemingly disparate forms of oppression in fostering collaboration between policymakers and scholars. In the article, Verges explains how the minorities in the South, despite being victims of environmental and racialized politics, have continued to pollute food and rivers by disposing of toxic wastes and spraying pesticides (Verges 6). According to the article, race can be regarded as the central cause of the destruction of environmental policies (Verges 6). The connection between the efforts to eliminate this Western conception is often regarded as that of a cheap disposable workforce and racialized group.
Based on Black Marxism, new history need to be written for the realization of the radical theory. Racial capital, according to the author, has played a vital role in the prevalence of global warming, especially for the people of the South. This concept is a political question and can be solved outside the limits of climate change (Verges 7). The concept of Anthropocene is described by the author as a naturalizing, eternalizing, universalizing, and de-historicizing strategy that eliminates any prospect of change in society (Verges 9). Colonialism and slavery have played a bigger role in influencing world ecology. The optimistic and apocalyptic views have, for a long time, dominated politics and media and shaped the ongoing debate on racial capitalocene (Verges 12). This views have also inspired the present rhetorical challenge produced by human nature as being caused by errors.
In another article by Laura Pulido on racism and Anthropocene, the author focuses on discussing the current climate justice. The article explains the relationship that exists between fossil fuel-based capitalism, environmental degradation, and racial subordination. This critique focuses on the concept of racism and how it has contributed to the Anthropocene. According to the author, there have been heated debates on the immediate causes of the Anthropocene, with the majority of the scholars ignoring the contribution brought about by racism (Pulido 116). The discussion on Anthropocene has always revealed it is a social problem that emanates from all people around the globe. The author indicates that on most occasions, the concept of Anthropocene is raised; the focus area has always been on aspects of poor and rich, developing and developed countries without focusing on the racial aspect (Pulido 117). This has made it difficult to solve the challenge of Anthropocene.
Lefties such as Moore have proposed that the Anthropocene concept should be regarded as Capitolocene. In their argument, the issue can be attributed to the prevailing economic situation and not countries or individuals. Most of the world’s concept on racism have always constricted it in order to minimize its perceived effect (Pulido 123). There have been diverse strategies to deny the fact that racism contributes to Anthropocene and plays a role in shaping today’s contemporary world (Pulido 124). This has further contributed to the restructuring concept of racism to fit in the political space.
In another article by Malm, Andreas, and Alf Hornborg, the concept of Anthropocene has been critiqued to explain the geology of mankind. According to the authors, the Anthropocene concept has always portrayed humans as a species that has taken control of the globe. This critique focuses on how the transition in fossil fuels has contributed to the concept of Anthropocene. Since the beginning of the fossil fuel transition, anthropogenic climate changes have significantly increased. The use of steam technology was only provided by the constellation of Afro-American and New World slavery (Malm, Andreas, and Hornborg 64). The fossil economy has contributed to climate change, with most capitalists in the world failing to find solutions to the problem. Most people often regard the Anthropocene concept as an ultimately self-defeating and illogical foray that can be regarded as the original cause of the discovery of climate change (Malm, Andreas, and Hornborg 66). The author argues the need for probing in-depth into the social history of natural inevitability.
The concept that I find most compelling from this critique is that of the capital scene. Capitalocene can be regarded as a distinctive way of basing capitalism as a link between historical pattern systems and connective geography in climate change. Based on this concept, the idea of climate change is not basically that from fossil fuels and there is a need to consider all interrelated and complex processes such as race, political and economic causes. This concept is also my favorite as it provides a solution to the aspect of climate change by suggesting a need to consider the larger scope of biotechnology, militarism, empire, imperialism, commodities, and classes. There is no need for issue generalization on the human species’ existence.
Works Cited
Malm, Andreas, and Alf Hornborg. “The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative.” The Anthropocene Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, pp. 62–69.
Pulido, Laura. “Racism and the Anthropocene.” Future Remains: A cabinet of curiosities for the Anthropocene, edited by Gregg Mitman, Marco Armiero and Robert S. Emmett, University of Chicago Press, 2018, pp. 116-128. Web.
Verges, Françoise. “Racial Capitalocene.” Futures of Black Radicalism, edited by Gaye Theresa Johnson and Alex Lubin, Verso Books, 2017.