Anthropocene and Empire: Discourse Networks of the Human Record

PMLA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Jaehoon Lee ◽  
Joshua Beckelhimer
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Digital Humanities ◽  
First Year ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Historical Archives ◽  
Global Movement ◽  
Spatial Terms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
European Colonialism

Scientists have recently proposed 1610 as a candidate for the first year of the new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene. They pinpoint the rise of European colonialism and the global movement of life among ecosystems it precipitated as the triggers for measurable changes in the earth system. We used digital humanities methods to mine historical archives to evaluate the relations among colonialism, early modern globalism, and the origins of the Anthropocene. We suggest that the Anthropocene was initiated by a premodern earth system that defined life across the globe in spatial terms, furthering the goals of empire—a regime of biopower that has not been adequately acknowledged in debates on the Anthropocene. We propose that the idea of empire, rather than Enlightenment narratives of progress and scientific modernity, must be considered in our definition of the Anthropocene. (JJL and JB)

Multiple dichotomies of the Anthropocene

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney J Autin
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Modern Literature ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
System Benefit

Anthropocene has developed a varied set of connotations among scientific and non-scientific advocates. As a result, multiple dichotomies of the Anthropocene exist within various scholarly disciplines. The Anthropocene allows people to reinforce and perpetuate preferred views about the implications of human interaction with the Earth System as our management of the environment is called into question. Scientific dichotomies arise from opinions about the need for formal or informal definition and the recognition of a modern versus historical onset of the Anthropocene. Philosophical dichotomies center around good versus dystopian outcomes of Anthropocene and whether or not humanity is part of what historically has been called nature. Political dichotomies insert Anthropocene into classic conservative versus liberal arguments. Artistic dichotomies tend to evaluate the effects of technology on modernism by embracing a nostalgia for the past or projecting an apocalyptic future. Multiple dichotomies drive conversation towards confusion as individuals argue preferred versions of an Anthropocene concept. Philosophical and political perspectives are affecting scientific views of proposed geological time markers for the start of the Anthropocene as conceptual ideologies appear to compete with tangible stratigraphic attributes. Formal definition of the Anthropocene has potential to inhibit popular usage and further confuse an already confused media. Informal stratigraphic usage by scientists and an open-ended view among non-scientific proponents may be the best approach to formulate a robust Anthropocene message. Both humanity and the Earth System benefit from a dynamic tag line that enhances environmental awareness and provides opportunity to modify our habits of resource overuse and ecosystem neglect. Concepts and imagery offered in the form of modern literature and art have the greatest prospect of affecting popular culture perspectives of the Anthropocene’s role in environmental debate.

The GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef Angermann ◽  
Thomas Gruber ◽  
Michael Gerstl ◽  
Urs Hugentobler ◽  
Laura Sanchez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Gravity Field ◽  
Working Group ◽  
System Modeling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Earth System Modeling ◽  
The Earth ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Definition Of

<p>The Bureau of Products and Standards (BPS) supports GGOS in its goal to obtain consistent products describing the geometry, rotation and gravity field of the Earth. A key objective of the BPS is to keep track of adopted geodetic standards and conventions across all IAG components as a fundamental basis for the generation of consistent geometric and gravimetric products. This poster gives an overview about the organizational structure, the objectives and activities of the BPS. In its present structure, the two Committees “Earth System Modeling” and “Essential Geodetic Variables” as well as the newly established Working Group “Towards a consistent set of parameters for the definition of a new GRS” are associated to the BPS. Recently the updated 2<sup>nd</sup> version of the BPS inventory on standards and conventions used for the generation of IAG products has been compiled. Other activities of the Bureau include the integration of geometric and gravimetric observations towards the development of integrated products (e.g., GGRF, IHRF, atmosphere products) in cooperation with the IAG Services and the GGOS Focus Areas, the contribution to the re-writing of the IERS Conventions as Chapter Expert for Chapter 1 “General definitions and numerical standards”, the interaction with external stakeholders regarding standards and conventions (e.g., ISO, IAU, BIPM, CODATA) as well as contributions to the Working Group “Data Sharing and Development of Geodetic Standards” within the UN GGIM Subcommittee on Geodesy.</p>

scholarly journals Observations for Reanalyses

2018 ◽  
Vol 99 (9) ◽  
pp. 1851-1866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Brönnimann ◽  
Rob Allan ◽  
Christopher Atkinson ◽  
Roberto Buizza ◽  
Olga Bulygina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
Production Chain ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Generation Cycle ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
Evaluation Of Data

AbstractGlobal dynamical reanalyses of the atmosphere and ocean fundamentally rely on observations, not just for the assimilation (i.e., for the definition of the state of the Earth system components) but also in many other steps along the production chain. Observations are used to constrain the model boundary conditions, for the calibration or uncertainty determination of other observations, and for the evaluation of data products. This requires major efforts, including data rescue (for historical observations), data management (including metadatabases), compilation and quality control, and error estimation. The work on observations ideally occurs one cycle ahead of the generation cycle of reanalyses, allowing the reanalyses to make full use of it. In this paper we describe the activities within ERA-CLIM2, which range from surface, upper-air, and Southern Ocean data rescue to satellite data recalibration and from the generation of snow-cover products to the development of a global station data metadatabase. The project has not produced new data collections. Rather, the data generated has fed into global repositories and will serve future reanalysis projects. The continuation of this effort is first contingent upon the organization of data rescue and also upon a series of targeted research activities to address newly identified in situ and satellite records.

The GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef Angermann ◽  
Thomas Gruber ◽  
Michael Gerstl ◽  
Robert Heinkelmann ◽  
Urs Hugentobler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Mass Distribution ◽  
Working Group ◽  
System Modeling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Earth System Modeling ◽  
The Earth ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Definition Of

<p>This presentation gives a summary of the role and the activities of the Bureau of Products and Standards (BPS) to support IAG’s Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) in its goal to provide observations and consistent geodetic products needed to monitor, map and understand changes in the Earth’s shape, rotation and mass distribution. In its present structure, the two Committees “Earth System Modeling” and “Essential Geodetic Variables” as well as the Working Group “Towards a consistent set of parameters for the definition of a new GRS” are associated with the BPS. A key objective of the BPS is to keep track and to foster homogenization of adopted geodetic standards and conventions across all IAG components as a fundamental basis for the generation of consistent geometric and gravimetric products. Towards this aim, an updated 2<sup>nd</sup> version of the BPS inventory of standards and conventions used for the generation of IAG products has been published in the Geodesist’s Handbook 2020. In the framework of the renewing of the GGOS website, the BPS supports the GGOS Coordinating Office in particular regarding the representation of geodetic products. Furthermore, the BPS contributes to the rewriting of the IERS Conventions as Chapter Expert for Chapter 1 “General definitions and numerical standards” and interacts with external stakeholders regarding standards and conventions, such as ISO, IAU, BIPM, CODATA and the UN GGIM Subcommittee on Geodesy, including its Working Group “Data Sharing and Development of Geodetic Standards”.</p>

Thine and Mine: The Spanish “Golden Age” and Early Modern Studies

PMLA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret R. Greer
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Don Quixote ◽  
Spanish Golden Age ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Definition Of

Don Quixote, having shared the goatherds' rustic meal on his second sally, takes up a handful of acorns and launches into his lecture on the Golden Age: “Dichosa edad y siglos dichosos aquellos a quien los antiguos pusieron nombre de dorados, y no porque en ellos el oro, que en esta nuestra edad de hierro tanto se estima, se alcanzase en aquella venturosa sin fatiga alguna, sino porque entonces los que en ella vivían ignoraban estas dos palabras de tuyo y mío” ‘Blessed the time, and blessed the centuries, called by the ancients the Golden Age—and not because, then, the gold which we in our age of iron so value came to men's hands without effort, but because those who walked the earth in that time knew nothing of those two words, thine and mine.’ Bewildering as his harangue was for the listening goatherds, Don Quixote's introduction invites consideration of the location, ownership, and definition of the Spanish “Golden Age.” These aspects illuminate the challenge the period presents to early modern studies and vice versa.

Editorial: Fire in the Earth System

PAGES news ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Whitlock ◽  
Willy Tinner
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

SPIES AND BLOGGERS: NEW SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY TOOLS TO UNDERSTAND MICROBIAL PROCESSES IN THE EARTH SYSTEM

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Masiello ◽  
◽  
Jonathan J. Silberg ◽  
Hsiao-Ying Cheng ◽  
Ilenne Del Valle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Microbial Processes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

scholarly journals High and specific diversity of protists in the deep-sea basins dominated by diplonemids, kinetoplastids, ciliates and foraminiferans

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Schoenle ◽  
Manon Hohlfeld ◽  
Karoline Hermanns ◽  
Frédéric Mahé ◽  
Colomban de Vargas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Parasitic Species ◽  
Unicellular Eukaryotes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Pelagic Communities

AbstractHeterotrophic protists (unicellular eukaryotes) form a major link from bacteria and algae to higher trophic levels in the sunlit ocean. Their role on the deep seafloor, however, is only fragmentarily understood, despite their potential key function for global carbon cycling. Using the approach of combined DNA metabarcoding and cultivation-based surveys of 11 deep-sea regions, we show that protist communities, mostly overlooked in current deep-sea foodweb models, are highly specific, locally diverse and have little overlap to pelagic communities. Besides traditionally considered foraminiferans, tiny protists including diplonemids, kinetoplastids and ciliates were genetically highly diverse considerably exceeding the diversity of metazoans. Deep-sea protists, including many parasitic species, represent thus one of the most diverse biodiversity compartments of the Earth system, forming an essential link to metazoans.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document