Bryce Dawkins
Paragraph 1: First off I want to say that these articles were at first difficult to understand and hard to grasp the overall concept of what was being presented. I will also say that my favorite and the one I will for sure reference more than the others would have to be Kolbert’s. I liked this one because it plainly laid out the origin or the term “Anthropocene Epoch” and how the past has just solidified the idea of a new age. So in a nutshell yes, yes would be my vote for this new age. We can look back to Hararis text and look at the imagery that was presented to us, it is easier to understand that we have been in a new age for a lot longer than we thought after reading Hararis text. I believe we as humans have stepped into a new world, things are different clearly. We see it in longer seasons by about 12 days currently in Montana and we see it in temperatures rising world wide. I found it very amazing but also very shocking to see our reproduction as humans not mammal like but rather bacterial. As E.O. Wilson the biologist put it, “The human biomass is already a hundred times larger than any other species ever”. This simple fact should be enough evidence but if not then we can also look to the fact that as humans we have built cities. We use steel, glass, concrete, we have cars and planes. We have made tremendous leaps in bounds since our hunter-gatherer days. I found it hard to not face the fact that our world is changing and we the humans, the “apex predators” are the sole cause of it. Is it cool yes it is we have made strides that not give us amazing tools but at the same time terrifying because we have now started a new day.
Paragraph 2: In the article it is eye opening. I say eye opening because it is the reality at which most things are discussed and understood. People what to put beliefs, ill feelings towards what it being discussed. Religion from what I have read is the biggest roadblock to overcome, we must throw away our perceived notions about what we think we know and open our minds to broaden our understanding of this world. The ability to determine and come to a solution about climate change it being hindered because of what I stated earlier but also because having an opinion that may go against your religion or against what your friends or family think would lead you to being labeled, weird, obnoxious. I believe how Dr. Cathy Whitlock handled things in montana getting us montana’s to understand the changing of our seasons and our way of life was by informing. Tellings us the good and bad details, comparing it to the jobs of those affected giving them a reason for the issues that have come about. I believe the comparing to what is interesting to some is the key to helping those confused on what climate change is.
Hey Bryce!
I already did my comment for this week but then I read yours and literally could not help but comment on it as well. You make such fantastic points about climate change and then you bring in Harari and mannn does that really supplement and tie together these ideas beautifully. You seriously blew my mind with that Harari stuff, so nice job there. I love how you talk about the drastic changes we as humans have made to our planet, but also find a way to give Mankind a little credit for the fantastic technological advancements we’ve made as what you call the “apex predator”. I too felt the need to respectfully recognize Mankind for its accomplishments in addition to bringing attention to the ways (positive and negative) in which we have altered our environment. Great point about religion being a sort of wall people put up to block unwanted opinions about things like climate change. Expanding even further than religion; personal values, convictions, and beliefs of any kind can create this block that pushes out new or unfamiliar ideas for fear of threatening these aspects of our individuality which we adore so much. Fantastic post overall, thank you so much for the thought-provoking words, I can tell you put a lot of care into this blog post.