The point of this class is to care enough to learn and then spread awareness about the impact of our actions. I came in not knowing what the word ‘Anthropocene’ meant. I now know it means humans are a geological force. We are glaciers and meteors and our change is affecting the entire world. However, with the dawning realization of our impact, we have the unique opportunity to use our power to improve our reality instead of destroying ourselves.
(Photos: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/does-trumps-rise-mean-planets-demise-amanda-choy/, http://www.snopes.com/trump-deletes-global-warning-claim/).
I’ve been disheartened seeing our recent presidential election, and I’ve felt like nothing I can do will matter, but that is the mindset that allows atrocities to occur. If most people don’t think they can make an impact, and therefore do nothing, that leaves space for the people motivated by money instead of sustainability to start taking things down, because no one is stopping them, no one is reversing their efforts. It’s the bystander affect.
(Photos: https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060045998, https://www.campaigncc.org/sceptics)
Feeling alone and ineffective, realizing that personal recycling and composting makes no real difference, and seeing news headlines deny climate change is paralyzing. Just stop. Breathe. Look at any of the articles we’ve read, and you’ll find the most shattering realization: we are not alone. While every individual may not have the force of a hurricane, what is a storm made of but a multitude of drops? Maybe there is more water vapor in our atmosphere now, but awareness of our devastation can only unite us. That is what the Anthropocene is demanding from us, and it will take everyone rising up from all walks of life for us to be able to mitigate the damage we have already incurred. We just have to figure out what change is important to us and where to focus our efforts. Together, we can become geologically, inexorably good.
(Photo: https://global4life.net/relationship-between-global-warming-and-storms/)