Being a Pessimist in the Anthropocene.

                Over the last week, the idea of being an optimist or pessimist about the Anthropocene was a big debate that continued in my mind for many days after being introduced. After reading “The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature?”  We discussed in class what three choices would most likely happen to the world: business-as-usual, mitigation, or geo-engineering options. 

The End is Inevitable

When thinking about the Anthropocene, it is impossible to consider without mentioning humans—the Anthropos of the Anthropocene if you will. Our short time on Earth has had a huge, albeit largely negative impact on the environment that could possibly have unforeseen repercussions for the next millennia.

3/11 Citizens/Government

So I was leaping along— leap... leap... leap...when during my duties as a librarian I auspiciously (or do I mean suspiciously? Probably a combination of both) stumbled across this book: Citizens, Experts, and the Environment: The Politics of Local Knowledge.

Individual/Humanity

I originally started writing this blog post before we did the final reading for this week in which I railed against of the problems that I had as a social scientist with the articles we had been reading about the anthropocene. While many of them were addressed, we didn’t come to any clear conclusions.

Should We Be A FrackNation?

In my last blog post, “To Frack or Not to Frack, That is the Question” I said that I know my views were a little one-sided about fracking and the consequences of it.  So naturally, the thing I did next was to watch a documentary in response to “Gasland.”  This one was called “FrackNation” (also available on Netflix, and Amazon Prime Instant Video) and it explores the other side of fracking story. 

3/11 - Some of the politics of nuclear power, Japan

In trying to understand the situation in Japan I have started reading Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan edited by Jeff Kingston. It is a compilation of essays published in 2012 in a quick response to the disaster at Fukushima. On March 3, 2011 a 9.0 Mw earthquake hit Japan off of the northeast coast near the Iwate prefecture.

Stop! Collaborate and Listen

For my blog project, I wanted to focus my blog on the interactions between large corporations, or governments and the local populations and implications these interactions held in regards to the environment.