Anthropocene

Have your let this in?

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Dear ones,

If you are a new subscriber, a special WELCOME! Today’s topic came to me intuitively, I explored it as I wrote it by following a series of crumbs. I felt guided, one thing leading to another. Personally, a powerful experience. This post expresses challenging issues, be gentle with yourself as you read it, love to you all!

Anthropocene - What Is It?

Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, Courtesy Conservation Halton

From 2009 to 2023 several geologists diligently researched the premise that we have entered a new epoch within the earth’s timeline. Unofficially naming it the Anthropocene. Briefly, their assertion was that the Anthropocene began around 1950, correlating with the beginning of nuclear testing. That humanity has had a definite impact on the earth, being both irrevocable and measurable. A new age had begun.¹

To bring validity to this claim a site needed to be found that accurately measured this geological impact. The chosen site was the Crawford Lake in Ontario Canada because of the pristine nature of its sediment. “The bottom of the lake is completely isolated from the rest of the planet except for what gently sinks to the bottom.”²

This proposal was presented last year to the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. And the panel’s decision was made public recently, being rejected by a vote of 12 to 6.³ So, for now the Anthropocene remains an unofficial term.

When Did the Anthropocene Actually Start?

There is no question for me, we have entered the Anthropocene, however the specifics of the when can be disputed. I honor the geologists that did this research, it is valid, even though it was unsuccessful in accomplishing its premise at least for now. Yet I sense the vote was more opinion than science. It’s hard to truly know.

So why 1950 as the start date? Was that because of the ease of measuring the geochemical traces of plutonium? Maybe. What about the start date of the industrial age or even further back to the agricultural age?

A crumb appeared…I was having a conversation with my daughter the other day about a book we read several years ago, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn. There are two main characters, Ishmael as the teacher and the narrator as the student. Ishmael is a gorilla who can communicate telepathically. His main teaching is that humans can be split into two branches, the takers and leavers. Takers are the humans who feel superior, wanting to dominate and rule nature. Leavers are more tribal, respecting nature’s cycles and ways.

It is the “Takers” that have led to Anthropocene. An ongoing need to conquer, master, acquire and consume. A literal war against nature and this planet. There is no doubt that technological, scientific and engineering advances have been amazing. But what is the underlying impetus behind them? And is this Taker culture taking us into a free-fall, unable to stop till all resources have been depleted? Could it have all begun with the plow?

Grieving is a Doorway

Pictures form my recent trip to Muir Woods

We need to let this in. Grieving may be challenging, yet it’s so incredibly beautiful. It shows us what we consider to be important, what we love. When we grieve, we no longer numb ourselves to the pain and suffering of others and this world. Expanding the heart, showing us what it genuinely means to be human and compassionate.

As I was writing this post, another crumb came forward. Outside my window the skyline was changing. In the morning one redwood tree was chopped down, it just disappeared. Early afternoon another one.

My heart broke.

These past two weeks I made two treks to Muir Woods, relishing and bathing in the redwood forest. The synchronicity of this leaves me speechless. I ponder, what was the purpose for killing these two beautiful trees in my neighborhood? Maybe for safety, to build something new, they did not look diseased. Couldn’t they have been shored up? Saved? What is this incessant need to conquer our environment? I really don’t know. What I do know is that I am grieving.

Grieving is only one facet in moving forward. Others are sacred rage, activism, changing our lifestyle, transformation of social, political, economic and technological systems, etc. It’s not a one quick fix solution. This is a humongous issue. Yet, for lasting change to happen we need to grieve. To feel what is happening. Honestly, I too fear the overwhelming nature of grief, at times I want to bypass it. Yet grief is love in the face of loss. If there is one resolution, one revolution, I’d say it would have to be love.

A while earlier I randomly opened the Book Ishmael and read a section. Another crumb as I recall Ismael’s wisdom:

“ ‘I have amazing news for you. Man is not alone on this planet. He is part of a community, upon which he depends absolutely. Have you ever had any suspicions to that effect?’ …

‘What is the name of this community, of which man is only one member?’

‘The community of life.’ ”

What is Happening in “The Community of Life”…

Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Is a 620,000 square mile swirl of trash in the ocean between California and Hawaii. Composed of fishing nets, microplastics (plastics broken down to smaller pieces) and other trash. Most of it not biodegradable.⁴

Species extinctions: Native species have fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900. More than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened. Estimate of 10% of insect species are endangered. At least 680 vertebrate species had been driven to extinction since the 16th century and more than 9% of domesticated mammals had become extinct by 2016, with at least 1,000 more breeds still threatened.⁵

Nature Declination: “The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.”⁶

Greenhouse emissions: Since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions have doubled, raising average global temperatures by at least 0.7 degrees Celsius.⁷

Hole in the World

Another crumb appeared as I was driving home from Trader Joe’s the other day, this song by the Eagles came on. Originally written for 9/11, it feels so applicable to where we are today. There is a hole in the world and its not a simple fix. Demanding something deeper and evolutionary, a stepping down from our throne. Truly meeting nature, maybe even bowing to Her. Opening the heart with love, feeling our interdependence and connection. Honoring the importance of our relational existence with everything.

(Chorus) There's a hole in the world tonight
There's a cloud of fear and sorrow
There's a hole in the world tonight
Don't let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

They say that anger is just love disappointed
They say that love is just a state of mind
But all this fighting over who is anointed
Oh, how can people be so blind?

Chorus

Oh, they tell me there's a place over yonder
Cool water running through the burning sand
Until we learn to love one another
We will never reach the Promised Land

Chorus

Final Comments

This idea of the “Promised Land” has become highly Christianized. A physical destination to get to, a better place to be. And if it happens to have indigenous people there, they are removed. The Promised Land is not a corporeal location but as Ishmael said, it’s “the community of life.” Where love, connection and respect are made more important than conquering.

I don’t have a final answer, nor do I claim to fully know the depth of what is going on. And maybe that is what is needed. To let go of certainty, the need to have a concrete answer. Maybe, by releasing the tight grip of opinions we can step down from our self proclaimed knowing, and open the heart with love to a more relational way of being together. Moving with nature instead of against it.

Questions for you…

• Do you feel we have entered a new epoch? How is this landing on you?

• Are you a taker or a leaver? Somewhere in-between?

• What is your relationship with grief?

Would love to know your thoughts and feelings. Let’s have a conversation…

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1. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/11/world/anthropocene-epoch-geological-time-unit-scn/index.html

2. Ibid.

3. https://www.science.org/content/article/anthropocene-dead-long-live-anthropocene

4. https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/04/17/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-is-now-so-huge-and-permanent-that-a-coastal-ecosystem-is-thriving-on-it-scientists-say/

5. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.