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

Droughts and heat waves, as well as cold snaps, flats and torrential rain: The climate crisis is now a global...

Droughts and heat waves, as well as cold snaps, flats and torrential rain: The climate crisis is now a global topic that none of us can ignore any longer. With help from numerous scientists, graphic designer, Esther Gonstalla, has turned the complex interactions and scientific data on global warming into easily understood info-graphics – for everyone who wants, not only to understand but also to act.

What does the future look like? Will the climate emergency overpower us? Or will we start moving in time and...

What does the future look like? Will the climate emergency overpower us? Or will we start moving in time and achieve the great changes? We are standing at the crossroads. Politics, economics, civil society: All the players need to get active. But how? The Fridays for Future activist, Luisa Neubauer, and the political economist, Alexander Repenning, bring together theory and practice. They explain the context of the climate crisis and chart a path towards the future. For the future is (still) in our hands.

The dramatic extinction of species around the world, the ineffectualness of the Paris Climate Agreement and not least the rolling...

The dramatic extinction of species around the world, the ineffectualness of the Paris Climate Agreement and not least the rolling back of US American climate policy prompt the question of how to deal in a philosophically appropriate way with the apparently unstoppable ecological disaster. Fuller‘s diagnosisis as decisive as it is provocative: It is too late. Only an acceptance of the irrevocable, a ”merry despair“, now befits the situation.

Terror attacks, natural disasters, plagues, wars, collapsing economies: We tend to think of our future as a catastrophe. Eva Horn...

Terror attacks, natural disasters, plagues, wars, collapsing economies: We tend to think of our future as a catastrophe. Eva Horn examines the history and the motives of this modern sensibility for catastrophe in cinema, science and literature. She identifies the bio-political conflicts that are fought out in these scenarios of doom, but she also shows where, in the calls for security and prevention, these are effective fictions that we need to understand and analyse as such.

As animal traction became increasingly superfluous with the rise of motorisation after 1945, horses lost their significance – but they...

As animal traction became increasingly superfluous with the rise of motorisation after 1945, horses lost their significance – but they didn‘t disappear. Not only did the heyday of equestrian sports arrive after 1945, but the horse itself also remained important as a leisure-time partner, an object of care and a symbol of freedom. De Kleijn‘s study of the varied, always emotional debate surrounding the role of horses in the ”post-horse age“ provides deep insights into a hitherto neglected field of German social history.

Tickling grass, bright flowers, humming insects: That‘s how a summer meadow feels. Nowhere else is home to more species of...

Tickling grass, bright flowers, humming insects: That‘s how a summer meadow feels. Nowhere else is home to more species of insect; nowhere else is so overwhelmingly colourful. Yet at the same time, none of Germany‘s ecosystems is so threatened. About a third of our land surface used to be covered with flowering meadows. Today it is just a pitiful two per cent. Abundantly illustrated with photographs, this book sparks the reader‘s enthusiasm for these species-rich, vibrant ecosystems, and is at the same time a wake-up call for us to save the last flowering meadows.

In an age when globalisation and consumer capitalism are on the brink of failure, an alternative picture of progress is...

In an age when globalisation and consumer capitalism are on the brink of failure, an alternative picture of progress is emerging – that of bioutopia. This entails individuals relating to themselves as objects of biological design. The image of the “next humans” unites strands of bodily, technological and media history. With growing autonomy they will turn away from the aspirations of current ecological thinking. Tomorrow’s human will be a cyborg – and more or less immortal.

Alexander von Humboldt’s monographs, articles and essays have been shared exceptionally widely: around 800 texts in 15 languages on 30...

Alexander von Humboldt’s monographs, articles and essays have been shared exceptionally widely: around 800 texts in 15 languages on 30 disciplines, in 250 places of publication across five continents. He published his writing for a period of 70 years, from 1789 to 1859.

The Other Cosmos contains a selection of 70 texts – one from each year providing examples of his work, his research, his thinking and his life.

The magazine Third Nature is dedicated to interactions and feedback between nature and culture. It seeks to join, follow and...

The magazine Third Nature is dedicated to interactions and feedback between nature and culture. It seeks to join, follow and prompt debates that have become urgent since our entry into the Anthropocene epoch. The first issue therefore looks at topics such as genetically augmented potatoes in seed banks, capitalist business practices as housekeeping for the Earth, and the relationship between volcanism and the internet.

Vegetation, soil and climate are the most important components of ecological systems. This book reveals concisely the current state of...

Vegetation, soil and climate are the most important components of ecological systems. This book reveals concisely the current state of our knowledge about the Earth‘s ecology. It highlights the interactions of the different biological and geographical components, helps us to comprehend the eco-house that is the Earth and understand its vulnerability, and leads us towards more sustainable actions. As such, it lays the foundation for an understanding of the bigger context in a global perspective. With a generous selection of illustrations and photos.

Today it has become difficult in many ways to talk about nature. To some extent, things have gone so far...

Today it has become difficult in many ways to talk about nature. To some extent, things have gone so far that we can no longer presume to speak of nature as such. In his essay, therefore, Hartmut Böhme begins by asking what it means to live in a “post-nature” age. He then discusses the most important approaches to observing nature. He refutes the recently postulated theories regarding the inability of western culture to consider the interrelatedness of nature and culture.

The forest is not just an ecosystem somewhere ”out there“. Through our evolution, we are psychologically, spiritually and intellectually linked...

The forest is not just an ecosystem somewhere ”out there“. Through our evolution, we are psychologically, spiritually and intellectually linked to it. However, today most people live in megacities, with concrete beneath their feet rather than moss and humus, and with the din of engines in their ears instead of humming insects. Real nature is becoming ever more distanced. Wolf-Dieter Storl wants to bring us closer to the forest again and he takes us on a journey to our true, traditional roots.

The catalogue of the exhibition Welcome to the Anthropocene addresses the term Anthropocene as well as the idea behind it....

The catalogue of the exhibition Welcome to the Anthropocene addresses the term Anthropocene as well as the idea behind it. In 18 essays, prominent scientists and social scientists, architects, economists, artists and journalists investigate the question, widely discussed internationally, of whether or not the Anthropocene is a new geological epoch. Thus this volume, with its richly illustrated catalogue section, offers an impressive panorama of different perspectives and underscores our responsibility for the future of the planet.

An intellectual continent is charted afresh: Here at last we have access once again to all the writings of the...

An intellectual continent is charted afresh: Here at last we have access once again to all the writings of the explorer, naturalist and man of letters, Alexander von Humboldt, that have remained unprinted for 150 years. They tell of Humboldt’s expeditions, and even today they still make an essential contribution to many different areas of research – from anthropology to climate science.