Tuesday Januari 26th 2021 | 20:00 – 21:15| Facebook and Youtube|
With the advent of the melting icecaps 12,000 years ago, the Holocene began: a period of flourishing of the human race. In turn, we began altering Earth itself, and a new era dawned: the Anthropocene. This name was popularised in 2000 by Dutch atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen and ecologist Eugene Stoermer. Since then, the man-made impact on Earth has become ever more clear, but the Anthropocene hasn’t yet been formally recognised as a geological distinct era. Because where should it start: the first nuclear test in 1945 for example, that led to the novel rock ‘trinitite’, or rather the Industrial Revolution? Furthermore, the Anthropocene seems an alarming or even apocalyptic concept, in which we irreversibly destroy our home planet. Other philosophers point out instead the many possibilities this era brings, such as geo-engineering. So how should we characterise and shape our relationship with Earth, in view of the survival of both the human race and the planet?
This will be discussed with Albert Faber and Petra van der Kooij. Albert Faber is author of the book ‘The planet we made, life in the Anthropocene’ and policy advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Petra van der Kooij is author of the book ‘Why would I?’ about personal choices in the Anthropocene and researcher at PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
.This talk will be livestreamed on our Facebook page and YouTube channel and will be accessible for everyone to watch. You will be able to ask the speakers your questions in the chat! Check out the following links on January 26th at 20:00:
https://www.facebook.com/utrechtsib/
https://www.youtube.com/user/SIBUtrecht/