Anthropocene mindset

It’s a good time to reflect on the kind of Anthropocene we’re creating, and how we might make it a better one. Although we have already so changed the planet that it has entered a unique state – the Anthropocene – in which humans have become the dominant force, we are still leading very Holocene lives. What I mean by this is that our culture, civilisation, and infrastructure have not kept pace with the changing planet – we are still living twentieth-century lifestyles even though the world has moved into an entirely new era. The way we acquire our food, obtain our energy, use water, travel, relate to wildlife, plan new infrastructure, organise human populations, make global decisions… are all virtually unchanged from the twentieth century – even Victorian – times. Such a state of affairs may have been appropriate for a time of low human population, plentiful resources, a…