Neckel, S. (2021) Scholastic fallacies? Questioning the Anthropocene. Thesis 11 165(136-144). DOI: /10.1177/0725513621993278

Prescott, Susan L. & Logan, Alan C. (2017) Down to Earth: Planetary health and biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch. Challenges 8(2), 1-22. DOI: 10.3390/challe8020019.

Class Preparation for Feb. 01 - You will work on Assignment 1. Make use of all the materials you have read so far in class. This week the readings focus specifically on the Anthropocene, but the materials that you have already read should provide you with critical information for the theses and arguments that you will develop.

Please review the instructions for Assignment 1 before you prepare for class this week. In Assignment 1 you have to develop and support a thesis with arguments regarding the role and importance of one or two of the driving components of the Anthropocene Epoch -- population growth, urbanization, technological change, or globalization. The outcomes of the process may be primarily positive, primarily negative or both from the perspective of global (human and natural) changes resulting from the processes at work in the Anthropocene. Your class preparation this week is a first step in completing the assignment. If you do a good job on the preparation for class this week, you will be well on your way to completing assignment 1.

BEFORE CLASS

Step 1. Develop one thesis statement about the relationship between some aspect (or aspects) of each of the four "drivers" of change that we have discussed. This is more specific than the overall thesis that human dominance of the planet has created planetary level changes in geophysical and biological processes in the Anthropocene Epoch. Your four theses should argue for one driver as the most important in the development of the Anthropocene Epoch counched in terms of the effects we can expect to experience in the future. One thesis will propose that population growth is the main driver, another than the main driver is use of technology, etc.

Step 2. State at least two supporting arguments for each of your theses.

Step 3. Select one of your theses that you think would be a good choice for discussion by your team during class. You need to ask your colleagues to provide additional ideas and criticisms of your thesis and the logic and evidence you present in your supporting arguments. This is a step that will be important to completing Assignment 1.

DURING CLASS

Step 4. As a team, discuss the theses you have submitted and select one thesis that you, as a team, think is the strongest of the group. Create a Power Point slide that states the thesis and the supporting arguments for this thesis. Decide who will present you work on February 10. That will be a brief (10 minute) presentation.

Prepare a 10 minute (maximum) presentation of your thesis and arguments. Focus on the logic of your decision and why you think your thesis is a valid one. This should be based on the Summary you make in Assignment 1. Select ONE of your team members will make this very brief presentation.

Recommended Additional Readings: Read any TWO of the articles below. Select articles that deal with different aspects or issues regarding the Anthropocene.

Bowden, Gary. (2017) An environmental sociology for the Anthropocene Epoch. Canadian Review of Sociology 54(1), 48-68. 10.1111/cars.12138.

Braje, T. (2015) Earth systems, human agency, and the Anthropocene: Planet Earth in the human age. Journal of Archaeological Research 23(4), 369-396.

Butzer, K. (2015). Anthropocene as an evolving paradigm. Holocene, 25(10), 1539-1541. doi:10.1177/0959683615594471

Castree, N. (2015). The anthropocene: A primer for geographers. Geography, Summer 2015, 66-75.

Corlett, R. T. (2015). The anthropocene concept in ecology and conservation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 30(1), 36-41. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.10.007

Cutter, S.L. (2021) The changing nature of hazard and disaster risk in the Anthropocene. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 111(3):819-827. DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2020.1744423.

Datry, Thibault; Boulton, Andrew J.; Bonada, Nuria; Fritz, Ken; Leigh, Catherine; Sauquet, Cric; Tockner, Klement; Hugueny,m Bernard; and Dahm, Clifford N. (2018) Flow intermittence and ecosystem services in rivers of the Anthropocene. Journal of Applied Ecology 55(1), 353-364. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12941.

Driscoll-Derickson, K. (2018) Urban geography III: Anthropocene urbanism. Progress in Human Geography 42(3):425-435. DOI: 10.1177/0309132516686012.

Gignoux, C. R., Henn, B. M., Mountain, J. L., & Bar-Yosef, O. (2011). Rapid, global demographic expansions after the origins of agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(15), 6044-6049.

Gowdy, J., & Krall, L. (2013). The ultrasocial origin of the anthropocene. Ecological Economics, 95(0), 137-147. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.08.006

Haines, Andy. (2017) Addressing challenges to human health in the Anthropocene Epoch -- An overview of the findings of the Rockefeller/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health. International Health 9(5), 269-271. DOI: 10.1093/inthealth/ihx036.

Hazen, Robert M., Grew, Edward S., Origlieri, Marcus J. & Downs, Robert T. (2017) On the mineralology of the Anthropocene Epoch. American Minerologist 102 (3), 595-611. DOI: 10.2138/am-2017-5875 (Before you reject his one, it deals with the many new synthetic "mineral-like" compounds that have come into existence due to human activities -- 208 of them.)

Kouppanou, S. (2020) Environmental education and children's agency at the time of the Anthropocene. Journal of Philosophy of Education 54(4):944-959. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9752.12483.

Lewis, S. L., & Maslin, M. A. (2015). Defining the anthropocene. Nature, 519(7542), 171-180. doi:10.1038/nature14258

Lorimer, J. (2012). Multinatural geographies for the anthropocene. Progress in Human Geography, 36(5), 593-612. doi:10.1177/0309132511435352

Mariani, R.O., Cadotte, M.W., Isaac, M.E. et al. (2021) National changes in crop diversity through the Anthropocene. Scientific Reports 11(1):1-12. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99728-5.

Massy, C. (2021) Agriculture, the Anthropocene and human health. Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health 57(1):1819-1825. DOI: 10.1111/jpc.15683.

Pearce, F. (2013). The anthropocene's ancient unfolding. New Scientist, 218(2915), 10-11.

Rickards, L.A. (2015) Metaphor and the Anthropocene: Presenting humans as a geological force. Geographical Research 53(3), 280-287.. doi:10.1111/1745-5871.12128

Robinson, N. A. (2012). Beyond sustainability: Environmental management for the anthropocene epoch. Journal of Public Affairs, 12(3), 181-194. doi:10.1002/pa.1432

Smith, B.D. & Zeder, M.A. (2013) The onset of the Anthropocene. Anthropocene 4, 8-13.

Szerszynski, Bronislaw. (2017) Gods of the Anthropocene: Geo-spiritual formations in the Earth's new epoch. Theory, Culture, Society 34(2-3), 253-275. DOI: 10.1177/0263276417691102.

Uitto, J.I. (2021) Surviving the Anthropocene: How evaluation can contribute to knowledge and better policymaking. Evalution 27(4):536-452. DOI: 10.1177/13563890211034539.

Walker, M., Gibbard, P. & Lowe, J. (2015) Comment on "When did the Anthropocene begin? A mid-twentieth century boundary is stratigraphically optimal" by Jan Zalasiewicz et al. Quaternary International 383(204-207)

Other Additional Resources - May not be as useful for Assignment 1

Abrams, M. D., & Nowacki, G. J. (2015). Exploring the early anthropocene burning hypothesis and climate-fire anomalies for the eastern U.S. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 34(1), 30-48. doi:10.1080/10549811.2014.973605

Barau, A.S. & Ludin, A.N.M. (2012) Intersection of Landscape, Anthropocene and Fourth Paradigm. Living Reviews in Landscape Research 6, 1-22. URL: http://www.livingreviews.org/lrlr-2012-1 doi:10.12942/lrlr-2012-1

Braje, T. (2015) Earth systems, human agency, and the Anthropocene: Planet Earth in the human age. Journal of Archaeological Research 23(4), 369-396.

Certini, G. & Scalenghe, R. (2011) Anthropogenic soils are the golden spikes for the Anthropocene. The Holocene 21(8) 1269 -1274 doi: 10.1177/0959683611408454

Dow, G. K., & Reed, C. G. (2015). The origins of sedentism: Climate, population, and technology. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 119, 56-71. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2015.07.007

Paredis, E. (2011). Sustainability transitions and the nature of technology. Foundations of Science, 16(2), 195-225. doi:10.1007/s10699-010-9197-4

Pearce, F. (2013). The anthropocene's ancient unfolding. New Scientist, 218(2915), 10-11.

Piperno, D. R., McMichael, C., & Bush, M. B. (2015). Amazonia and the anthropocene: What was the spatial extent and intensity of human landscape modification in the amazon basin at the end of prehistory? Holocene, 25(10), 1588-1597. doi:10.1177/0959683615588374

Rick, T.C., Kirch, P.V., Erlandson, J.M. & Fitzpatrick, S.M. (2013) Archaeology, deep history, and the human transformation of island ecosystems. Athropocene 4, 33-45.

Rickards, L.A. (2015) Metaphor and the Anthropocene: Presenting humans as a geological force. Geographical Research 53(3), 280-287.. doi:10.1111/1745-5871.12128

Rivera-Collazo, I. (2015). Por el camino verde: Long-term tropical socioecosystem dynamics and the anthropocene as seen from puerto rico. Holocene, 25(10), 1604-1611. doi:10.1177/0959683615588373

Seddon, A.W.R., Mackay, A.W., Baker, A.G., Birks, J.B. et al. (2014) Looking forward through the past: Identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Journal of Ecology, 102, 256-267 doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.12195.

Smith, B.D. & Zeder, M.A. (2013) The onset of the Anthropocene. Anthropocene 4, 8-13.

Walker, M., Gibbard, P. & Lowe, J. (2015) Comment on "When did the Anthropocene begin? A mid-twentieth century boundary is stratigraphically optimal" by Jan Zalasiewicz et al. Quaternary International 383(204-207)

Wolkovich, E. M., Cook, B. I., McLauchlan, K. K., & Davies, T. J. (2014). Temporal ecology in the anthropocene. Ecology Letters, 17(11), 1365-1379. doi:10.1111/ele.12353

Yusoff, K. (2013). Geologic life: Prehistory, climate, futures in the anthropocene. Environment & Planning D: Society & Space, 31(5), 779-795. doi:10.1068/d11512

Zalasiewicz, J., Waters, C. N., Williams, M., Barnosky, A. D., Cearreta, A., Crutzen, P., et al. (2015). When did the anthropocene begin? A mid-twentieth century boundary level is stratigraphically optimal. Quaternary International, 383, 196-203. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.11.045