{"id":13530,"date":"2024-03-05T17:35:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T22:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=13530"},"modified":"2024-03-05T17:35:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T22:35:54","slug":"white-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/03\/05\/white-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"White smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Everyone sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for geologists to finally decide whether or not we have entered the Anthropocene epoch can now breath a sigh of relief. They’ve sent up their white smoke signal to indicate that yes, they’ve decided. (Oh, maybe I’m mixing it up with the Vatican.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They’ve decided no<\/a>. But it doesn’t mean what you think it does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it sounds like they’re passing the buck, well, they are<\/em> geologists, the turtles of the scientific world. They shouldn’t be making radical, epoch-ending pronouncements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, it may mean what I and others<\/a> have been saying<\/a> it ought<\/a> to mean: that the Anthropocene is an event<\/em>, not an epoch<\/em>. It’s the kind of thing that, in the geological record, happens pretty suddenly, shockingly — \u201ca complex, transformative, and ongoing event analogous to the Great Oxidation Event<\/a>” — and everything afterward is different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How different? We won’t know until we’re an epoch or two removed from it. Let’s enjoy the ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(But in the meantime, you can read Erle Ellis<\/a>‘s account of the decision<\/a>. Ellis resigned from the Anthropocene Working Group<\/a> last year, partly because he disagreed with the narrowing of criteria the group was using to define the Anthropocene.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for geologists to finally decide whether or not we have entered the Anthropocene epoch can now breath a sigh of relief. They’ve sent up their white smoke signal to indicate that yes, they’ve decided. (Oh, maybe I’m mixing it up with the Vatican.) They’ve decided no. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[688615],"tags":[123569,660354],"class_list":["post-13530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropo_scene","tag-anthropocene-working-group","tag-erle-ellis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-3we","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13546,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/03\/22\/anthropocene-dust-up-what-it-means\/","url_meta":{"origin":13530,"position":0},"title":"Anthropocene dust-up: what it means","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent International Union of Geological Sciences decision to reject the proposed \"Anthropocene epoch\" might seem confusing. Here's a piece of draft material from my forthcoming book-in-progress, The New Lives of Images: Digital Ecologies and Anthropocene Imaginaries in More-than-Human Worlds, that attempts to bring the situation up to date. Comments\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image-2.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/03\/image-2.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7686,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/07\/07\/against-the-anthropocene\/","url_meta":{"origin":13530,"position":1},"title":"Against the Anthropocene","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is a guest post by Kieran Suckling, Executive Director of the nonprofit\u00a0Center for Biological Diversity. It follows the discussion begun\u00a0here\u00a0and in some\u00a0AESS conference sessions, including Andy Revkin's keynote talk\u00a0(viewable here)\u00a0and responses to it (such as\u00a0Clive Hamilton's).\u00a0 I In considering why the name \u201cAnthropocene\u201d has been proposed, why it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"setting-sun-smokestacks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2014\/07\/setting-sun-smokestacks-275x179.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13077,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/12\/19\/the-event-that-might-be-big\/","url_meta":{"origin":13530,"position":2},"title":"The event that might be big","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times' Raymond Zhong summarizes the latest deliberations on the Anthropocene in an article called \"For Planet Earth, This Might Be the Start of a New Age.\" The article features some good implicit sociology-of-science: Like the zoologists who regulate the names of animal species or the astronomers who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/12\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7722,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/08\/05\/anthropocene-debate-continues\/","url_meta":{"origin":13530,"position":3},"title":"Anthropocene debate continues","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Kieran Suckling's post Against the Anthropocene, originally posted here on July 7 and subsequently shared\u00a0with the International Commission on Stratigraphy's\u00a0Anthropocene Working Group by Andy Revkin, has elicited a round of emailed back-and-forths from some noteworthy individuals, including paleobiologist Jan Zalasiewicz and paleoecologist Anthony Barnosky. As this debate would be of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10098,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2019\/03\/17\/p-n-transition-or-toward-the-neocene\/","url_meta":{"origin":13530,"position":4},"title":"P-N transition, or, toward the Neocene","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"March 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It's nice to see archdruid John Michael Greer's proposal for a \"Pleistocene-Neocene transition\" get a little traction in the science press -- specifically, in a Science Alert article by psychologist Matthew Adams. Greer, whose writings on religion and ecology are respectably out-of-the-box, advocates against the Anthropocene label on the basis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2019\/03\/Titanicentersicefields-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2019\/03\/Titanicentersicefields-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2019\/03\/Titanicentersicefields-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2019\/03\/Titanicentersicefields-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12803,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2022\/08\/04\/after-the-anthropocene-the-deluge\/","url_meta":{"origin":13530,"position":5},"title":"After the Anthropocene, the deluge?","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On the Ecocene, the Chthulucene, the Ecozoic, and other Holocene successor terms The term \"Anthropocene\" has come to be accepted among many intellectuals as the best, or perhaps least worst, name for the geological present, when human activities have come to dominate the planet. It's still debated among geologists, with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/1_yKN9ZnquOlc3qgKjhDKRjQ.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/1_yKN9ZnquOlc3qgKjhDKRjQ.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/1_yKN9ZnquOlc3qgKjhDKRjQ.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/1_yKN9ZnquOlc3qgKjhDKRjQ.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/1_yKN9ZnquOlc3qgKjhDKRjQ.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2022\/07\/1_yKN9ZnquOlc3qgKjhDKRjQ.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13533,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13530\/revisions\/13533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}