Ecological Collapse Research Articles

Heat stress destabilizes symbiotic nutrient cycling in corals

Recurrent mass bleaching events are pushing coral reefs worldwide to the brink of ecological collapse. While the symptoms and consequences of this breakdown of the coral-algal symbiosis have been extensively characterized, our understanding of the underlying causes remains incomplete. Here, we investigated the nutrient fluxes and the physiological as well as molecular responses of the widespread coral Stylophora pistillata to heat stress prior to the onset of bleaching to identify processes involved in the breakdown of the coral-algal symbiosis. We show that altered nutrient cycling during heat stress is a primary driver of the functional breakdown of the symbiosis. Heat stress increased the metabolic energy demand of the coral host, which was compensated by the catabolic degradation of amino acids. The resulting shift from net uptake to release of ammonium by the coral holobiont subsequently promoted the growth of algal symbionts and retention of photosynthates. Together, these processes form a feedback loop that will gradually lead to the decoupling of carbon translocation from the symbiont to the host. Energy limitation and altered symbiotic nutrient cycling are thus key factors in the early heat stress response, directly contributing to the breakdown of the coral-algal symbiosis. Interpreting the stability of the coral holobiont in light of its metabolic interactions provides a missing link in our understanding of the environmental drivers of bleaching and may ultimately help uncover fundamental processes underpinning the functioning of endosymbioses in general.

Massive Aggregations of Serpulidae Associated With Eutrophication of the Mar Menor, Southeast Iberian Peninsula

For decades, inputs of nutrients and organic matter into the Mar Menor coastal lagoon have favored the change from an original oligotrophic to a eutrophic state. The lagoon reached a stage of severe eutrophication and “environmental collapse” during the spring of 2016. This paper describes the massive growth of Serpulidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) forming large aggregations and reef structures after the environmental collapse caused by the eutrophic crisis. Four species belonging to the genera Hydroides and Serpula were identified; the identified species are Hydroides elegans, Hydroides dianthus, Serpula concharum, and Serpula vermicularis. The presence of bi-operculate and tri-operculate specimens is also documented in this study.

End-Triassic crisis and “unreefing” led to the demise of the Dachstein carbonate platform: A revised model and evidence from the Transdanubian Range, Hungary

The Dachstein platform was an extensive carbonate platform developed on the westernmost shelf of the Neotethys during the Late Triassic, now preserved in various tectonic units disrupted during the Alpine orogeny. Despite being the focus of a multitude of sedimentological, paleontological and other studies, the demise of this platform remains controversial, with contrasting views on the timing and causes of cessation of its growth, the duration of the gap above, which at many places includes the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (TJB), and the depositional environment of overlying strata. Here we present new carbonate sedimentological, stable isotope and cyclostratigraphic data from sections in the Transdanubian Range (Hungary) which capture the termination of uppermost Triassic Dachstein Limestone and the onset of Hettangian (Early Jurassic) sedimentation following a hiatus. Previously, the TJB in the Transdanubian Range was regarded as a textbook case of a tectonically-driven platform drowning event or, alternatively, cessation of carbonate production due to emergence caused by a significant sea level fall at the TJB. However, recognition of global biotic change and environmental perturbations at the TJB calls for an assessment of their possible role in the demise of the Dachstein platform. Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of bulk carbonates were measured in sections at Kőris-hegy (Bakony Mts.), Tata (Tata Horst), and Vöröshíd (Gerecse Mts.) Paleogeographically, these three sections represent a proximal to distal platform transect. Other sections at Pisznice and Tölgyhát (Gerecse Mts.) yielded additional sedimentological data. The sharp surface separating the Dachstein Limestone from the overlying Jurassic formations carries no or only minimal relief at outcrop scale. Thin section studies reveal small-scale irregularities, stylolites, microborings with ferruginous filling, or a thin clay-rich layer at the TJB, indicative of a submarine, or perhaps polygenetic, hardground. In the first meters of the lowermost Jurassic beds abundant ooids occur, and crinoids become common. In each of the studied sections, an abrupt negative carbon isotope shift is recorded at the TJB, and a gradual rebound to more positive values characterizes the lowermost Jurassic strata. Chemostratigraphy allows correlation with sections elsewhere. In the Transdanubian Range, the initial carbon isotope excursion and at least the first part of the purported main carbon isotope excursion are not preserved due to the gap at the TJB. Combined bio- and cyclostratigraphy of lowermost Jurassic strata permits an astrochronologic duration estimate of the early Hettangian hiatus that was not longer than a few hundreds of thousand years. Our results highlight the role of submarine erosion, perhaps partly related to acidification, and point to an abrupt change in carbonate production related to the end-Triassic extinction of several groups in the platform system. “Unreefing”, the ecological collapse of reefs, led to a regime shift, the transformation of the rimmed platform to a carbonate ramp, with a significant gap in production and preservation of carbonate sediment. This model is not uniformly applicable to Late Triassic platforms as several of them, unlike the Dachstein platform, survived with unrimmed architecture in the Early Jurassic elsewhere on the Neotethyan shelf. However, the model may explain features of the carbonate platform sedimentary record across other events with reef collapse. • Demise of Dachstein carbonate platform linked to end-Triassic global change. • Change in sedimentary regime caused facies contrast across Triassic-Jurassic boundary. • Collapse of reef ecosystem led to transition of rimmed platform to carbonate ramp. • Top surface of Dachstein Limestone points to submarine erosion rather than emergence. • Carbon isotope and cyclostratigraphy hint at short gap at Triassic-Jurassic boundary.

László Rákosy: ”Serviciile oferite de natură sunt multiple și complexe. Va trebui să învățăm să le percepem și să le apreciem”

László Rákosy: “Prin pierderea biodiversității se ajunge la colapsul ecologic al planetei.” Pasiunea domniei sale pentru fluturi a început la vârsta de 10 ani, când a avut privilegiul să vadă colecția adevărată de fluturi a profesorului său de biologie, Michael Konrad. Această pasiune l-a determinat să studieze biologia pentru a cunoaște și înțelege mai bine viața spectaculoasă a necuvântătoarelor.
 Acum, profesorul László Rákosy este director al Departamentului de Taxonomie și Ecologie în cadrul Facultății de Biologie și Geologie a Universității „Babeș-Bolyai” din Cluj și președintele Societății Lepidopterologice Române. Cartea sa, “Fluturii diurni din România. Cunoaştere, protecţie, conservare”, l-a fascinat deja pe Charles, Prinț de Wales, moștenitor al tronului Regatului Unit și prieten al ținutului transilvan. Prin protejarea neprețuitului Albăstrel transilvan (Pseudophilotes bavius hungarica), profesorul László Rákosy merge cu pasiune pe urmele celebrului naturalist Alexandru Borza, cel care a înființat o arie protejată, acum nouă decenii, pentru protejarea plantei unice Astragalus peterfii. 
 Albăstrelul transilvan este un fluturaș endemic pentru habitatele cu caracter stepic din Câmpia Transilvaniei și a devenit un simbol al Transilvaniei. Deși este protejat în România, Albăstrelul transilvan este cunoscut mai mult în străinătate, fiind trecut pe lista speciilor protejate de UE. Cea mai importantă populație s-a menținut în Situl Natura 2000 de la Suatu, la 35 km nord de Cluj-Napoca, unde numeroși specialiști și iubitori ai naturii veneau anual, la sfârșit de aprilie sau început de mai, pentru a vedea și admira acest unicat al naturii.
 Potrivit opiniei profesorului László Rákosy, oamenilor trebuie să le pese de protejarea speciilor endemice pentru că acestea trăiesc în areale foarte restrânse, iar perturbarea mediului în care trăiesc poate duce la extincția lor din patrimoniul mondial. Din nefericire, în anul 2016, populația de Albăstrel transilvan de la Suatu a fost complet distrusă când jaleșul cârn (Salvia nutans), planta preferată a fluturelui, a fost consumată de oi, exact în perioada în care în inflorescențele plantei se găseau ouăle și larvele acestuia. Dacă autoritățile locale ar fi fost vigilente, Albăstrelul transilvan ar fi putut deveni un brand local, așa cum alte specii endemice au devenit simboluri naționale, pentru multe dintre țările lumii. Dacă un bun din patrimoniul cultural mai poate fi restaurat, reparat sau îmbunătățit, dispariția unui taxon endemic nu poate fi înlocuită sau reparată prin niciun efort. Omenirea trebuie să învețe să mențină biodiversitatea la acel nivel la care rețelele ecologice să rămână funcționale.
 Sub îndrumarea profesorului László Rákosy, Societatea Lepidopterologică Română, alături de alte câteva ONG-uri, s-a implicat masiv în ultimii 15 ani în procesul de conștientizare a comunităților locale cu privire la atitudinea față de natură. Susține practicarea artei compromisului, ce va permite lăsarea brâielor de vegetație spontană dintre parcele ori proprietăți, pentru polenizatori și parazitoizi. Acestea vor reduce pesticidele și vor facilita certificarea produselor ”BIO”. În acest fel, câștigurile vor fi mai mari în timp, iar biodiversitatea refăcută.
 Profesorul László Rákosy iubește oamenii, expedițiile în zone mai puțin cunoscute (Amazon, Africa, Asia etc), familia, cei doi câini și arta fotografiei. Relația sa cu natura este una specială, iar pandemia generată de virusul SARS-CoV-2 l-a determinat să redescopere frumusețea Munților Apuseni, a grădinii sale, a plantelor și pomilor pe care îi îngrijește.
 Natura poate exista fără OM, omul fără NATURĂ nu!

Recycled carbon degassed from the Emeishan plume as the potential driver for the major end-Guadalupian carbon cycle perturbations

Massive gas emissions (e.g., CO2, CH4 and SO2) during the formation of large igneous provinces (LIPs) have been suggested as the primary cause of dramatic climatic change and the consequent ecological collapses and biotic crises. Thermogenic carbon of crustal sediments induced by intrusive magmatism throughout the LIPs is considered as the primary trigger for environmental catastrophe including mass extinction, as illustrated in the case of the Emeishan LIP in Southwest China. Here we evaluate the Emeishan LIP to address the causal link between carbon degassing and environmental crises during the end-Guadalupian of Middle Permian. An assessment of the carbon flux degassed from recycled oceanic crust in the Emeishan plume shows that recycled oceanic crust contributed significantly to the carbon flux. Using evidence from carbonate carbon isotopic records at the Gualupian-Lopingian (G-L) boundary stratotype at Penglaitan of South China, our study suggests that carbon degassed from massive recycled components in the Emeishan plume served as a major end-Guadalupian (Middle Permian) carbon isotope excursion. The model based on the Emeishan LIP also offers new insights into the important role of recycled carbon released from other LIPs in climatic change and mass extinctions, as in the cases of the end-Permian Siberian and end-Cretaceous Deccan Traps. Our work highlights that carbon released from subducted slabs is returned to the atmosphere via upwelling mantle plumes, which could drive global climatic change and mass extinction.

Ethical Maxims for a Marginally Inhabitable Planet.

Bioethics has largely neglected the Anthropocene and its ethical challenges. This essay asks which ethical norms will serve us well in the face of the coming climate catastrophe. It sketches the climate changes likely for the year 2031 and offers six adaptive maxims, drawn from bioethics work in ICUs and hospices, to guide us through the devastation and transition following environmental and social collapse. These six maxims are: work hard to grasp the immensity of the change; cultivate radical hope; have a line in the sand; appreciate the astonishing opportunity of life at this time; train your body and mind; and act for the future generations of all species. Because we are already in an environmental collapse and the beginnings of social collapse, these maxims are relevant today as well as for the future.

Regulatory capitalism, extinctions and China

Is it possible to manage economic crises, ecological crises and security crises without larger welfare and regulatory states? Growing a regulatory welfare state is one thing polities can do to avert ecological collapse. My perspective goes beyond narrow meanings of welfare. In the medium term, economies can be reshaped so that jobs are created less by investment in the production of material things, more by growth in human services. Shifting the shape of the economy so more of the jobs are for nurses, teachers, carers reduces emissions. Financialized capitalism pushes workers and whole economies into levels of debt they cannot manage when crises arrive. Understanding these dynamics helps grasp why authoritarian capitalist economies accomplished a wider economic growth lead over liberal economies this century, and in the case of China, a lead in green innovation. This is a different pattern from previous centuries. Investing in more jobs to steer capitalism and steer welfare sit alongside more jobs in the human services as imperatives to avert cascades to ecological, security and economic crises, and to authoritarianism. While there is enormous path-dependence of momentum toward extinctions, mutual inter-penetration of growth path-dependencies among institutions of the market, welfare and of regulation might be mustered to counter it.

From the Ashes of the Old: A New Deal for Wildland Firefighters

From the Ashes of the OldA New Deal for Wildland Firefighters Daniel Boguslaw (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution The Texas Canyon Hotshot crew fights a fire July 2016. (David McNew/AFP via Getty Images) [End Page 102] Last summer, the fires creeping up from Salem, Oregon, and the base of the Cascades colored Portland’s skies a sickly red. While it’s extremely difficult for an urban metropolis to burn, the satellite images of smoke spreading out over the Pacific made it seem as though cataclysm wasn’t far off. In the fall, after what might have been the worst fire season ever recorded in the western United States, the smoke subsided, but the sense of unease remained. In the summers of 2017 and 2018, I lived in Portland while waiting for the call to pack up and head to my fire crew’s dispatch in the Columbia River Gorge. I worked on a twenty-person handcrew, chainsawing snags in the pine stands of eastern Oregon and driving across barren straits of sage scrub in Montana’s wilderness. Once, atop granite cliffs in Idaho, we scouted for spot fires smoldering out between the juniper and cattle carcasses, tongues of dry lightning flickering above the hills. During sixteen-hour shifts in the smoke, under the roar of helicopters, a new reality takes shape, divorced from the familiarities of a world not yet ablaze. After just a few days, your sense of smell is cut in half, and soon it almost completely disappears. During long truck rides and in thickets of poison oak, civilization faded. The people I worked with were the only constant in an ever-changing natural landscape. On the crew, we developed a fragile but potent solidarity. We were one part of a privatized and fractured workforce mobilized each summer then abandoned in the winter. Across California and the Pacific Northwest, tens of thousands of workers battle fire without labor protections or benefits, for wages that fluctuate wildly between state minimums and more than $20 an hour for the veteran U.S. Forest Service employee or private crew boss. Between private contractors, state agencies, and federal bureaus, there are vast discrepancies in training and efficacy. As the United States slips closer to ecological collapse, the organization of America’s wildland labor force must be radically overhauled if there is to be any hope in combating our climate emergency. A massive job [End Page 103] mobilization expanding the public workforce, reversing the trend of privatization, securing a living wage for tens of thousands of firefighters, and multiplying year-round positions that address the increasingly complex factors that lead to megafires is the best hope we have to confront the fire-storm that threatens to engulf the West Coast. ________ In 2020, more than 58,250 wildfires burned some 10.3 million acres across the United States. California was hammered by the fires, as were Colorado, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest. At a high-profile September meeting with President Donald Trump, California Governor Gavin Newsom blamed climate change for the crisis. Trump prescribed forest management. Media on both sides of the political spectrum began the usual onslaught of op-eds and news segments confirming their preferred causal mechanism. The exact impact climate change has on wildfires is still not completely understood, but there is no doubt global warming plays a complex and increasingly severe role. Warming has accelerated the creep of invasive flora across California’s deserts, which dry out into an alien mat that serves as a novel fuel source in an ancient and once predictable ecosystem. Carbon emissions have not only accelerated warming but also changed wind patterns, the predictability of snow melt, and soil erosion—all of which affect wildfires. Over the past fifty years, data from the Congressional Research Service shows that the biggest burn years by acreage were 2006, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2017, and now 2020. To claim that the catastrophic fires are solely the result of climate change, however, misses the forest for the trees. As Mike Davis details in his 1995 essay “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn,” catastrophic wildfires are intimately tied to development in natural fire areas. For...

Los sistemas complejos como herramienta para la sustentabilidad. Una visión desde la perspectiva de la Teoría Crítica.

The objective of the essay presented is to discuss the nature of the complex systems methodology as a useful tool for the analysis and management of sustainability. It is concluded that the construction of a model of complex socially sensitive systems is a pending and urgent objective to face the environmental collapse suffered by contemporary society.

Temperature management potentially affects carbon mineralization capacity and microbial community composition of a shallow aquifer.

High-temperature aquifer thermal energy storage (HT-ATES) is a promising technique to reduce the CO2 footprint of heat supply in the frame of transitioning to renewable energies. However, HT-ATES causes temperature fluctuations in groundwater ecosystems potentially affecting important microbial-mediated ecosystem services. Hence, assessing the impact of increasing temperatures on the structure and functioning of aquifer microbiomes is crucial to evaluate potential environmental risks associated with HT-ATES. In this study, we investigated the effects of temperature variations (12-80°C) on microbial communities and their capacity to mineralize acetate in aerobically incubated sediment sampled from a pristine aquifer. Compared to natural conditions (12°C), increased acetate mineralization rates were observed at 25°C, 37°C and 45°C, whereas mineralization was decelerated at 60°C and absent at 80°C. Sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that the bacterial diversity in acetate-amended and non-acetate-amended sediments decreased with rising temperatures. Distinct communities dominated by bacterial groups affiliated with meso- and thermophilic bacteria established at 45°C and 60°C, respectively, while the number of archaeal phylotypes decreased. The changes in microbial diversity observed at 45°C and 60°C indicate a potential loss of ecosystem functioning, functional redundancy and resilience, while heat storage at 80°C bears the risk of ecological collapse.

Sandra Ramos Revisited

Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) is one of the few artists to reflect critically on both sides of the Cuban di-lemma, fully embodying the etymological origins of the word in ancient Greek: di-, meaning twice, and lemma, denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavorable alternatives. Throughout her works she shines a light on the dilemmas faced by Cubans whether in Cuba or the United States, underlining the bad personal and political choices people face in both countries. During the hard 1990s, while still in Havana, the artist focused on the traumatic one-way journey into exile by thousands, as well as the experience of profound abandonment experienced by those who were left behind on the island. Today she lives in Miami and operates a studio there as well as one in Havana. Her initial disorientation in the USA has morphed into an acerbic representation and critique of the current administration and a deep concern with the environmental collapse we face. A buffoonlike Trumpito has joined el Bobo de Abela and Liborio in her gallery of comic characters derived from the rich Cuban graphic arts tradition where she was formed. While Cuba is now represented as a rotten cake with menacing flies hovering over it ready to pounce, a bombastic Trumpito marches across the world stage, trampling everything underfoot, a dollar sign for a face.

Crônicas da urgência: os desafios das ciências na criação do futuro no Antropoceno

O presente artigo tem como objetivo refletir acerca da renovação epistemológica e dos desafios científicos suscitados pela emergência do colapso ambiental. Para tanto, foi dividido em quatro partes. Na primeira, tendo como base o pensamento de Danowski, Viveiros de Castro e Latour, propõe uma reflexão filosófica sobre o esgotamento paradigmático dos modelos que constituíram as ciências modernas e analisa os novos objetos de estudo transdisciplinares que caracterizam o Novo Regime Climático, para usar a terminologia de Latour. No segundo momento, são analisados embates referentes à formalização do termo Antropoceno para designar a nova época geológica e sua decorrente inserção na Escala do Tempo Geológico. Em seguida, o foco incide sobre as considerações acerca do suposto caráter generalizante do termo Antropoceno para designar a época presente. Para isso, utiliza-se principalmente de conceitos desenvolvidos pelo historiador Jason W. Moore e pela filósofa Donna Haraway. A quarta parte indica, a partir das colocações de Reinhart Koselleck e François Hartog, as repercussões do Antropoceno sobre o regime de historicidade da sociedade global capitalizada na contemporaneidade. Ao mesmo tempo, reflete sobre alguns dos desafios enfrentados pela ciência, enquanto instituição, na tarefa de convencer a opinião pública de forma a mobilizá-la para que aumente a pressão sobre as instâncias políticas aptas a tomar medidas que mitigariam dos efeitos do Antropoceno.

Built environment of Britain in 2040: Scenarios and strategies

We are living through a convergence of crises. In 2020, when the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic spread across the world, it brought economic instability in its wake. Sectors of the built environment (BE), among others, were hit hard by a public health crisis followed swiftly by an unprecedented economic downturn. In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report highlighted the need for rapid and drastic action on climate change by 2030 to prevent the disastrous effects of a world warmed by more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, raising the urgency of achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by Member States in 2015. Even rapid decarbonisation, the report warned, would likely not be sufficient to address the intertwined problems of poverty, mass migration, politics and ecological collapse that the SDGs seek to address. Digital technology offers an opportunity to better understand and model solutions to these complex crises, but it is unclear how digital technology should be harnessed in the face of an uncertain future. Written at the beginning of this critical decade leading up to 2030, this paper looks ahead 20 years in the future to better understand the resources, technology, economy, governance, infrastructure, mobility and social factors that may shape the development of Britain’s digital BE. By exploring four scenarios around the variables of i) the UK’s compliance with the interconnected targets of the SDGs and ii) the size of the workforce relative to the dependent population (dependency), this paper concludes with the identification of key strategies that can lead to the sustainable development of the BE sectors, outlining a number of actions that should be combined with the path for recovery from Covid-19 and are based on digital technology and a green information economy that ensures a future better for everyone in a digital built Britain.

Combined heat pump heating and ventilation system using heat of soil, sewage water and ventilation emissions

ABSTRACT Currently, one of the main energy consumers in many countries is the communal sector. In this case, the bulk of the energy is supplied by fossil sources. In this regard, studies in the field of alternative energy sources that can help solve not only the problem of energy saving, but also the problem of environmental pollution and prevent the approaching environmental collapse deserve special attention. One of the most promising sources of alternative energy in the field of communal utilities is heat pump that use the low-temperature heat of renewable sources and the heat of the upper layers of the soil. Soil, as an energy source, has an almost constant and sufficiently high temperature level, which determines the sufficient efficiency of using its heat. However, the widespread occurrence of this type of heat pump is hindered by the high cost of the ground heat exchanger and its installation. In this regard, the development of new heat supply schemes having higher energy efficiency is relevant. To solve this problem, a combined heating and ventilation scheme based on ground heat pump was developed. The feature of this scheme is the use of additional low-temperature energy sources, such as the heat of ventilation emissions and wastewater of a heat supply facility. On the basis of the scheme the thermodynamic model in which the equation of the basic balance of separate elements and the scheme as a whole found the defining parameters characterizing work of system is developed. An algorithm for determining parameters at the nodal points of the chain is proposed, on the basis of which a numerical analysis of the circuit is performed. The results of the analysis are presented in the form of graphical dependencies. Features of operation of the scheme depending on the set initial parameters and ambient temperature are shown. Conclusions are made on the possible reduction of capital and operating costs for heating and ventilation due to the proposed solution.

Use and occupation of soil and carcinoculture in the ciliar forest of the Paraíba do Norte river in municipality of Mogeiro/PB, Brazil

The environmental collapse has required an enormous effort to guarantee studies that contribute to planetary environmental conservation. Diametrically, the riparian forest has suffered a great loss of vegetation biome to the detriment of human occupation in these ecosystems. Currently, in the face of the global environmental crisis, riparian forests have been the most degraded ecosystem on the planet. In another sense, riparian forests play an indispensable role in maintaining aquatic and terrestrial environments. Work aims to map the uses and occupations of the soil in riparian forest areas of the Paraíba do Norte River, in Mogeiro - PB. To this end, the research methodology consists of characterizing the use and occupation using remote sensing and delimitation of images to create marginal strips of the 50-meter perennial natural water course in line with the Forest Code (12651/12).

Rethinking Nathaniel Hawthorne and Nature: Pastoral Experiments and Environmentality

Rethinking Nathaniel Hawthorne and Nature: Pastoral Experiments and Environmentality

The Culling: Pandemic, Gerocide, Generational Affect.

Old age has been central to public health rationalities and contestations of the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic. This article thinks through what age is and does in pandemic times by juxtaposing four domains of ethical publicity in which age comes to matter: (1) mass fatality of old persons under conditions of variable unpreparedness; (2) circulation of social-Darwinist argument for herd immunity through culling of the weak; (3) everyday challenges of late life care as these are amplified under quarantine; and (4) long-term conditions of economic and political impasse and environmental collapse, experienced as failure of older generations and abandonment of younger ones, a situation here termed generational affect. It asks to what extent the figure of the cullable old renders racialized disparities natural and makes sense through a generational affect in which the world feels as if the survival of the young is in question.

Antroposen’de zamansallık: Jeanette Winterson’un Taş Tanrıları’nı yeniden değerlendirmek

Over the past two decades, since the term Anthropocene was coined by Paul Crutzen in 2000, the concept of the Anthropocene has attracted the attention of many contemporary authors. It is a phenomenon that is hard to totally grasp and only distinguishes itself through evidence such as climate change and other environmental disasters. The Anthropocene challenges the concept of temporality because as it is so enormous in range it resists representation within a specific time. In order to narrate the Anthropocene and its devastating impacts on human and nonhuman worlds through literary texts, the Anthropocene authors need to deploy new narrative techniques that make possible the image of such vast scale issues. In The Stone Gods, Winterson utilizes nonlinear structures of time to portray the story of a planetary catastrophe as a form of a continuum that influences different time periods from past to present and definitely the future. She skilfully reconstructs the concept of time to create alternative worlds that allow her to imagine ecological collapse in different times and locations. With its three interrelated sections, The Stone Gods narrates the story of the Anthropocene as a continuous thread of degradation which occur throughout history in parallel with the destructive activities of humanity on Earth.

Human Flourishing and History: A Religious Imaginary for the Anthropocene

Abstract The Anthropocene denotes the impact of human activity on Earth systems, resulting in mass extinctions of plant and animal species, pollution of oceans, lakes and rivers, and altering of the atmosphere. The Anthropocene signifies the mass control of nature by humans, the erasure of boundaries between humanity and nature, and the threat to human existence by human-made technology. How can biological humans flourish, if their physical environment, the very condition of their existence, is destroyed? What does it mean to thrive as a human in an age when human-made machines threaten to make humanity obsolete? How does human flourishing relate to human history? This essay argues that the monotheistic traditions, and Judaism in particular, offer meaningful religious imaginaries for the Anthropocene because they envision human flourishing as embodied, ecological and historically grounded. In contrast to secular imaginaries, which either declare the “end of nature” or envision the obsolescence of biological humanity, the Judaic religious imaginary honors the interconnectedness and interdependence of all creatures, while recognizing human responsibility toward the well-being of the natural world. Viewing nature as divinely created, and, thus “enchanted” by the divine presence, the Judaic religious imaginary offers a vision of human flourishing based on the ethics of care and responsibility that enables humanity to respond and perhaps even prevent further ecological collapse.

‘Imagine what we could do’— the school strikes for climate and reclaiming citizen empowerment

ABSTRACT This essay argues that the School Strike for Climate movement, and with it the whole climate movement as well as other resistance mobilizations, is in danger of being immobilized by the logic of the spectacle, the coronavirus pandemic, and government lockdowns. It ranges over issues of political performance, media spectacle, climate inaction and the challenges of protest in the contemporary era of environmental collapse, hyperspeed media cycles, and the coronavirus pandemic.