
Rocking the Anthropocene
The farmers plow in spring, weed in summer, reap in fall, and store away in winter. Because they do each at the proper season, there is a never-ending supply of grain and the people have more than enough to eat. Because the lakes and rivers are watched over carefully and closed off at the proper time, there is an ever increasing supply of fish and other water creatures and the people have more than they can use. Because the felling of trees and cutting of brush is done only at the proper time, the hills are never denuded and yet the people have all the wood they need. These are the measures of a sage king.
Xun Zi, (310-212 BC).
The girls go drawing the water from the brook,
The men go gathering firewood on the hill…
Alive, they are the people of Che’en Village;
Dead, they become the dust of Che’en Village
Po Chü-I, Ninth Century A.D.
Recent Media on the Anthropocene based on London meeting:
Cover story in the The Economist: May 26, 2011 (included video interview “Tea with The Economist”)
Nature: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110510/full/473133a.html
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-extreme-makeover-humans-reshaping-earth.html
Dot Earth: Confronting the ‘Anthropocene‘
BBC Radio 4: Material World (podcast)
Reuters: Enviro-word of the moment
NY Times: The Age of Anthropocene: Should We Worry?
Guardian: Geologists press for recognition of Earth-changing ‘human epoch’