! TWICEMONTHLY REVIEW DEDICATED TO SPIRITED DEBATE ABOUT BOOKS AND THE ARTS /64, ()6<; -(8 )36. 7<)30* *<3;<9, ),&7,21 121),&7,21 08/7,*(15( %5,()6 ,17(59,(:6 -PH JO 4JHO VQ #REATED BY AND FOR A TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF WRITERS ARTISTS AND ACTIVISTS gf) JUST NEEDED TO WRITE LIKE A WOMAN WRITE AS A WOMAN ) WAS LEARNING HOW Ts -81 $57 0(',$ (9(176 7$*6 6($5&+ 73(5,;(9@ 7630;0*: '3&%3*, "-#3*550/ +0/440/ #&)*/% 5)& $637& 4$*&/$& "/% 5)& 10-*5*$4 0' (-0#"- 8"3.*/( *OSHUA (OWE 5NIVERSITY OF 7ASHINGTON 0RESS #6: -¼7&/.&/5 "/5)3010$/& -" 5&33& -¼)*450*3& &5 /064 #HRISTOPHE "ONNEUIL AND *EAN"APTISTE &RESSOZ 3EUIL #6: *UNE £ )N THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMIST 0AUL #RUTZEN AND THE ECOLOGIST %UGENE 3TOERMER PROPOSED THAT THE EARTH HAD ENTERED A NEW AGE 4HE (OLOCENE PERIOD THE GEOLOGICAL TERM FOR THE PAST YEARS HAD GIVEN WAY TO A NEW EPOCH £THE !NTHROPOCENE ! WARMER MORE EXTREME AND LESS PREDICTABLE PATTERN OF WEATHER HAD REPLACED THE (OLOCENE§S RELATIVELY STABLE CLIMATE "Y EMITTING THE GREENHOUSE GASES OF INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY OUR SPECIES HAS BECOME A GEOLOGICAL AGENT 4HE !NTHROPOCENE NAMES THAT CRITICAL JUNCTURE AND UNAMBIGUOUSLY FINGERS ITS HUMAN CAUSES 9OU MIGHT THINK THAT WE HAVE BIGGER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT THAN THE FINER POINTS OF GEOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE 9ET THE NOTION OF THE !NTHROPOCENE HAS BECOME A MATTER OF FIERCE DEBATE AND NOT JUST AMONG SCIENTISTS 'EOLOGY HAS A SPECIAL ROLE TO PLAY IN THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE IT SHOWS SO VIVIDLY HOW HUMANS ARE INFLUENCING THE LIFESUPPORTING SYSTEM OF THE PLANET !FTER BILLIONS OF YEARS WHEN THE CLIMATE OF OUR PLANET WAS SHAPED BY NATURAL VARIABILITY WE HAVE NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME ENTERED AN AGE WHEN THE CLIMATE OF THE EARTH IS BEING SHAPED PRINCIPALLY BY HUMAN RATHER THAN NATURAL FORCES ! GEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE REVEALS THE FULL TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL SCALE OF THE SHIFT /UR HISTORICAL MOMENT MUST BE COMPARED TO CHANGES IN THE MULTIMILLIONYEAR TIME FRAME WITHIN WHICH SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THE EARTH HAS EXISTED OR DEEP TIME )F EMISSIONS CONTINUE UNABATED OUR ERA OF ANTHROPOGENIC WARMING WILL BE ON PAR WITH EPISODES OF RAPID CHANGE IN THE GEOLOGICAL PAST SUCH AS THE 0ALEOCENE%OCENE 4HERMAL -AXIMUM 0%4- EVENT MILLION YEARS AGO WHICH RAISED GLOBAL TEMPERATURES ¢ # OVER A FEW MILLENNIA 'EOLOGICAL TIME IS ALSO THE APPROPRIATE MEASURE FOR THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ! SIGNIFICANT PART OF OUR CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS WILL LINGER IN THE ATMOSPHERE FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS &OR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS IN A PROCESS THAT IS AT ONCE DEMOCRATIC AND BUREAUCRATIC THE SMALL GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE !NTHROPOCENE 7ORKING 'ROUP HAVE BEEN DEBATING THE QUESTION OF NAMING OUR EPOCHAL SHIFT ARGUING OVER WHETHER TO USE THE OFFICIAL WEIGHT OF THE GROUP TO DECLARE A NEW GEOLOGICAL EPOCH AND IF SO HOW TO DEMARCATE IT FROM THE (OLOCENE 4HE 7ORKING 'ROUP WHICH REPRESENTS THE MILLION MEMBERS OF THE )NTERNATIONAL 5NION OF THE 'EOLOGICAL 3CIENCES CONSISTS OF SCHOLARS DRAWN FROM THE NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 4HE 7ORKING 'ROUP IS IN TURN PART OF THE 3UBCOMMISSION ON 1UATERNARY 3TRATIGRAPHY WHICH OVERSEES AND REGULATES THE STRATIGRAPHICAL SCALE OF THE 1UATERNARY PERIOD DEFINED AS THE CURRENT AND MOST RECENT PERIOD OF GEOLOGICAL TIME ESTIMATED AT ROUGHLY MILLION YEARS 4HE APPOINTED MEMBERS OF THE 7ORKING 'ROUP ARE DELIBERATING TO ESTABLISH THE CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING THE SPECIFIC GEOLOGICAL SIGNATURE OF THE !NTHROPOCENE 4HAT DEFINITION WILL BE CONFIRMED OR REJECTED IN WITH VOTES IN THE 3UBCOMMISSION AND ITS PARENT BODY THE )NTERNATIONAL #OMMISSION ON 3TRATIGRAPHY 'EOLOGISTS ASSESS THE IMPACT OF HUMANITY BY THE SEDIMENTS WE LEAVE BEHIND 3UCH MANMADE GEOLOGICAL MARKERS MIGHT INCLUDE MICROPLASTICS MAGNETIC MINERALS RADIOISOTOPES AND SO FORTH WHAT IS SOMETIMES JOKINGLY REFERRED TO AS THE ¤#OCA #OLA LAYER¥ )N ORDER TO DISCOVER THE BEGINNING OF THE !NTHROPOCENE THE GEOLOGISTS ARE LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC SIGNATURE A 'LOBAL 3TRATOTYPE 3ECTION AND 0OINT '330
