The Future Starts Now. Anthropocene – the Age of Human Influence on Nature and Climate

Today, species extinction has reached an extent and a speed that are almost unprecedented in history. This development poses a...

Today, species extinction has reached an extent and a speed that are almost unprecedented in history. This development poses a cultural challenge as well. In art, film and literature, extinct and vanishing species are seen as signals for a crisis of modernisation in which humankind is finally trying to reimagine itself as a biological species – a “post-human” model of the human being as a cosmopolitan animal.

Since the end of the 20th century, Alexander von Humboldt has become a significant figure in the public discourse in...

Since the end of the 20th century, Alexander von Humboldt has become a significant figure in the public discourse in many areas of knowledge and a wide range of scientific fields. This handbook renders Humboldt‘s enormous body of work accessible, and describes the paths taken and the impacts achieved by this extraordinary explorer, academic and writer.

A large number of manuscripts, notes and letters, edited here for the first time, shed light on the decades of...

A large number of manuscripts, notes and letters, edited here for the first time, shed light on the decades of work Humboldt devoted to his Geography of Plants. They document the scope of his reading and his writing practices, and show how he gathered infor- mation from around the world and networked research and academics. The edition includes contributions by science historians, which examine the origins and context of Humboldt’s botanical geography and introduce some less well-known predecessors, contemporaries and critics.

Do heatwaves, torrential rain falls and catastrophic storms already amount to climate change – or are they still ”only“ the...

Do heatwaves, torrential rain falls and catastrophic storms already amount to climate change – or are they still ”only“ the weather? The physicist Friederike Otto contributed to the development of ”Attribution Science“, a revolutionary method that helps us to calculate precisely when climate change is involved. It allows us to recognise and assign responsibility to specific causes of weather phenomena. And it prevents the misuse of climate change as an argument. Politicians can no longer blame climate change in order to hide mismanagement or their own or failures.

What do reflections on geological processes and their related scientific research have to do with the academic study of poetry?...

What do reflections on geological processes and their related scientific research have to do with the academic study of poetry? Falb is not interested in poems that take as their subject matter the ecological transformations of the earth, or which conjure up apocalyptic scenarios. Anthropocene poetry is free of all aesthetics; it is a data-set, divided into stanzas or not, which communicates at most things that one could also read in books of pop-science. But freed of fiction.

This book examines the cultural-historical context of the current upheavals in the human relationship with nature. It asks if today‘s...

This book examines the cultural-historical context of the current upheavals in the human relationship with nature. It asks if today‘s crisis makes it necessary to redefine conceptually the value of nature from an ethical-normative point of view, and what the legal consequences of such a new definition would be. Finally, it shines a light on the anthropological dimension of the human relationship with nature, which has changed in profound ways.

Climate change is happening now and it is everywhere. This book summarises the background information and core messages of the...

Climate change is happening now and it is everywhere. This book summarises the background information and core messages of the most important climate agreements. It explains the scientific context to the topic of climate change, presents the instruments of climate policy, and sets out the necessary institutional framework for keeping emissions to the threshold needed to avoid exceeding a 2° C temperature rise in the fight against climate change.

Hanna Poddig, who describes herself as an anarchist who cannot be reconciled with the system, provides an introduction to different...

Hanna Poddig, who describes herself as an anarchist who cannot be reconciled with the system, provides an introduction to different aspects of the climate movement. After a brief look back at the Startbahnbewegung, a longstanding group that opposed a new runway at Frankfurt Airport, she analyses current topics, forms of action and strategies of resistance in more detail.

The ways we think of the climate and climate change are determined by the pictures that scientists use to visualise...

The ways we think of the climate and climate change are determined by the pictures that scientists use to visualise their findings. But pictures have an impact. Birgit Schneider examines the limitations and potentials of these representations, showing us how data is developed visually today, and how methods, deviations and uncertainties are often lost behind the suggestive power of the climate imagery – an essential contribution to efforts to invalidate the arguments of climate-change deniers.

Jens Soentgen characterises the Anthropocene as the age of fear – above the animals’ view of humans. The killing of...

Jens Soentgen characterises the Anthropocene as the age of fear – above the animals’ view of humans. The killing of animals around the world serves not only to drastically reduce the populations, it also spreads fear amongst the survivors. That fear influences their behaviour, reproduction and feeding habits. But options exist for a reconciliation. The reduction of fear is an ethical commandment that is equally justifiable as the reduction of pain.

Enlivenment is the attempt to find a fundamentally new outlook on the interactions between nature, human beings and economics. The...

Enlivenment is the attempt to find a fundamentally new outlook on the interactions between nature, human beings and economics. The essay aims at a new understanding of the diverse economic, ecological and social crises that face us. We will only establish the basis for a new economy and an effective form of crisis management after we have learnt to talk not of “control” but of “participation” whenever the topic arises of the relationship between humans and nature.

An aid for climate protection, provider of wood, place of yearning and a problem child: Like few other topics, the...

An aid for climate protection, provider of wood, place of yearning and a problem child: Like few other topics, the forest is the focus of attention today. But how is it really coping? Forests in Our World give us their answers. On a journey through the world‘s five basic forest forms – from the coniferous forests of the Far North to the rainforests of the Tropics – Gunther Willinger shows us the complex relationship between forests, nature and the climate, and he explains what we need to do in order to sustain this miracle.

What does it mean to live in the Anthropocene epoch? Daniel Falb has set out his “Metaphysics for the Earth...

What does it mean to live in the Anthropocene epoch? Daniel Falb has set out his “Metaphysics for the Earth in the Anthropocene”. This book introduces a new, explicitly naturalistic and atheistic metaphysics for the Earth, and at the same time calls for metaphysics to be considered a science. It is also an attempt to outline the kind of political metaphysics for the Earth in the Anthropocene that would transform the planet into a museum of the Holocene.

What does the Little Ice Age at the end of the 16th century have to do with the present day?...

What does the Little Ice Age at the end of the 16th century have to do with the present day? Quite a lot. The climate in Europe altered dramatically. Grain crops declined and the economy and society entered a serious crisis. People attempted to use science and technology to free themselves from their dependence on nature, leading to industrialisation and ultimately globalisation. Today this modern world has reached its limits and now faces renewed challenges due to its selfmade climate emergency.

Plants generate the air that we breathe, form the basis of our food chain and help us relax in the...

Plants generate the air that we breathe, form the basis of our food chain and help us relax in the oases of peace. More than that, plants are complex living beings that form extensive networks, and without them human cultures could not have emerged at all. This is made clear by the authors of this volume that accompanies the exhibition of the same name. A nuanced view of the biological and cultural dimensions of flora.

The soil beneath our feet is the source of our livelihoods. We live from the things it gives us. However,...

The soil beneath our feet is the source of our livelihoods. We live from the things it gives us. However, modern agriculture uses it simply as a growing medium, drenching valuable cultivable land in fertiliser, poison and liquid manure. The consequences are disastrous. Humus soils that have developed over millennia are being destroyed, despite the fact that adding just four parts per thousand of humus each year could sequester the world‘s annual emissions of carbon dioxide. It is high time to rethink this situation, in order to protect the climate and sustain species diversity.

For decades the worlds of politics, economy and society have busied themselves with climate change and its dramatic consequences –...

For decades the worlds of politics, economy and society have busied themselves with climate change and its dramatic consequences – without getting even close to arresting its progress. Yet those consequences will be dramatic indeed: The continued burning of fossil fuels is threatening a scorching end to our civilisation. Self-Combustion is an urgent plea for societal changes and the restructuring of the global economy, in order to ensure that our future descendants have a world worth living in.

What happens when technologies become actors in their own right? During the 20th century a new component – the technosphere...

What happens when technologies become actors in their own right? During the 20th century a new component – the technosphere – became established that is com- parable to the biosphere or the atmosphere. It is increasingly dominating parts of our planet, from material processes and human mobility, to the financial and commercial markets. It has already started to transform the spaces of human experience and emotion. Power is in the hands of those who hold sway over the technical infrastructure.

This collection of essays brings together about a dozen different humanities perspectives on the contemporary epoch. The book looks back...

This collection of essays brings together about a dozen different humanities perspectives on the contemporary epoch. The book looks back on the two-year “Anthropocene Project” staged by Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt, sharing texts by Jane Bennett, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Paul Edwards, Anne Peters, Jürgen Renn, Bernd Scherer, Peter Sloterdijk, Benjamin Steininger, Davor Vidas, Jan Willmroth, Jan Zalasiewicz and others.

Humans have changed the entire earth system so profoundly that we are obliged to think in terms of a new...

Humans have changed the entire earth system so profoundly that we are obliged to think in terms of a new geological epoch. What does it mean to comprehend human beings as a geological force? What is nature if it is being influenced and shaped by people worldwide? And how can our political systems address this global problem? This book tackles the most important questions and challenges posed by the Anthropocene epoch.