Category Archives: Reflections
Posts that reflect on issues related to habitation in the Anthropocene, without presenting a particular reading.
Adam Smith on Human Niche Construction
A recurring theme on this blog has been niche construction—the idea that in evolution a species does not solely adapt to exogenous changes in the environmental conditions of its niche, but rather can Continue reading
Gendering the Anthropocene
Last October, Oxford economist Kate Raworth wrote an op-ed criticizing the Anthropocene Working Group, an international team of scientists charged with determining whether the Earth has, in fact, entered a new geologic epoch. Raworth wrote that, whatever their intellectual merits, “[leading scientists] still seem oblivious to Continue reading
Habitability in Environmental Political Theory
At the beginning of April I participated in a roundtable that examined habitability as a specifically political concept. The context was session on Continue reading
The Dust of Civilization
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
In an earlier post, I emphasized the strong link between the origins of agriculture and the positions of loess (loosely “dust”) regions—arguing in essence that, from dust arises life. If loess bestows habitation and habitability, then loess paved the way for Continue reading
Toward a More-Than-Human Anthropocene
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
By exploring habitability in the Anthropocene, we imply that a human-dominated world can still be a world that supports thriving human populations. This orientation holds a certain appeal, but it is, I contend, in need of serious interrogation. Continue reading
Habitability as a commons: Fearing a tragedy of human(ized) nature
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
Some of the recent posts have made me think of the famous book written by Elinor Ostrom, “Governing the Commons.” Ostrom looks at the problem of Continue reading
Habitability’s non-inevitability
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
A theme that has emerged throughout this blog is that there appears to be a fundamental core to habitability: humans transform the world around them, while being structured by the world. Any account, then, necessitates Continue reading
Memes as a dimension of the human niche
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
Though human beings can be understood biologically, as one species among others, we have one particularly prominent, even defining, feature: Continue reading
Advancing equity and going beyond basic survival
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
In my earlier post I raised the question of how equity issues fit with the concept of habitability in the Anthropocene. This topic perhaps leads us into the muck of the impacts humans cause when Continue reading
Implications of manufacturing habitability
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
From my earlier post and that of Ingo, there is agreement that humans have become the most successful environment altering species; modifying our surroundings to meet our needs by manipulating Continue reading
Toward an ethics of niche construction
THIS POST IS PART OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ANTHROPOCENE PROJECT—SEE THIS DESCRIPTION OF OUR SUBMISSION.
Human beings are niche constructors par excellence—posts by Kiza and Ingo have presented this fact of nature. But what are the moral implications of that fact, if any? Continue reading
Looking Back From the Anthropocene
As the Anthropocene unfolds and becomes more manifest, will its inhabitants look back and blame their predecessors on Earth (us, and perhaps earlier generations as well) for bequeathing them a planet not fit for Continue reading
Decolonizing the Anthropocene
Does Mother Earth have rights? Can glaciers listen? Should invisible elves be consulted about development projects? If you find these questions fanciful, please bear with me. I may not convince you to answer them in the affirmative, but I think I can convince you to take them seriously. Here goes. Continue reading
Big History, Deep History, and the Problem of Scale
What does it mean to talk about the anthropocene historically? Thinking about this has forced me to take a closer look at a couple areas of scholarship that I’ve watched grow over the past few years: big history and deep history. These two interdisciplinary projects have recently gained Continue reading
Do we need “the Anthropocene?”
As 2014 came to a close I received a wonderfully provocative e-mail from my friend and colleague in the Environmental Political Theory community John Meyer. He wrote that Continue reading
Season’s Greetings
With best wishes for the holiday time, and for a peaceful and joyous 2015.
Inhabiting the Anthropocene 
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