The Anthropocene! Beyond the natural? - Oxford Handbook (original) (raw)

Abstract

We are now entering the Anthropocene Epoch - so runs a recent enthusiastic claim. Humans can and ought to go beyond the natural and powerfully engineer a better planet, managing for climate change, building new ecosystems for a more prosperous future. Perhaps the Anthropocene is inevitable. But: Rejoice? Accommodate? Accept it, alas? Perhaps the wiser, more ethical course is not so much "beyond" as "keeping the natural in "symbiosis" with humans. Enter the Semi-Anthropocene! Basically Natural! Carefully!