Generation Anthropocene

Today is a guest spot featuring Episode 1 of Carbon Valley, a new series from Wyoming Public Media. In the coal capital of the country, in the least-populated state in the union, leaders had to make a move. So, they turned to a silver bullet and brought in a $20 million competition to jumpstart a new era for coal country. Along the way, an unlikely ally emerges: a skateboarding environmentalist.

Few things in life are better than savoring delicious food. We all know this to be true today... but we've never stopped to consider just how important flavor-seeking might've been in the distant past. It turns out that the science of flavor can teach us a lot about the story of human evolution, and how we might reign in our rapacious appetites as we confront global environmental change.

Climate change sometimes feels like a problem that can only be solved by governments, corporations, and large sectors of the economy. The truth, though, is that we as individuals can make an impact too. And, as it turns out, it's not all sacrifice. In her new book, Under the Sky We Make, Professor Kim Nicholas of Lund University explores the humanity that emerges when we're willing to do engage in a little personal reckoning.

At some point global warming will get so bad that the world will HAVE to take action, right? Well, maybe not. In this conversation with environmental journalist, David Roberts, we dive into the scary reality of shifting baselines syndrome. That's the human tendency to rationalize, normalize, and otherwise brush stuff under the rug. Along the way we drop a bunch of f-bombs, and also have a good chat about hope.

This episode is about magic mushrooms and the Anthropocene. Need I say more? Prepare to have mind = blown.

Are you afraid of the end of the world? Sure! Who isn’t?! Sometimes, though, it’s hard to unpack all the stories we tell ourselves about the looming apocalypse. So perhaps the most popular monster of the 21st century, the freakin’ ZOMBIE, can help us unearth and confront our collective fears. Let’s do this. See you in the graveyard at midnight!

When I fell in love with geology, I developed a new relationship with TIME. It’s not just the vastness of Earth history that blew my mind— it’s imagining all that’s happened, all that’s transpired to make the Earth what it is today. In her book, Timefulness, Marcia Bjornerud captures this idea as well as anyone I’ve ever met. I had to talk to her. She’s my new favorite person.

It's been 3 years since our last episode – and we're (finally!) bringing GenAnthro back. On this episode, we learn how GenAnthro came to be, what happened, and where we go from here. Happy to be back, y'all – more episodes coming soon!

Cross-promotion. Introducing Raw Data's Origins of Power in Silicon Valley. How did we get here?

When you imagine ocean sounds, maybe you hear the smooth arcing songs of the humpback whale, or the energetic, rhythmic clicks and snaps of dolphins. But it turns out the oceans are home to a much wider range and diversity of sounds than we could ever imagine, and today some of them are being captured by hydrophones (underwater microphones). In this episode, we take an audio journey of the oceans, learning what sound can reveal, what scientists have yet to identify, and how the underwater soundscape is changing in the Anthropocene.

Two stories of ecological disruption: the great sea star wasting, and a graveyard of trembling aspens. As climate change unfolds, one of the scariest prospects is that we will witness large scale ecosystem collapse. So is that moment already upon us? Will we be able to recognize the symptoms in time, and do we have enough information to take steps in advance? In both of today’s stories, from the oceans to the mountains, scientists are trying to understand the magnitude of ecological transformation underway – and what that might mean for the future.

Sea level rise is a global concern, and on the whole, policy and funding for mitigation aren’t keeping pace. Today on Gen Anthro, producer Isha Salian shares a story about a unique mitigation method in the San Francisco Bay Area – wetlands restoration, which is happening right next door to Silicon Valley’s biggest tech campuses. The Bay Area has a reputation for being environmentally conscious, but even here, local ecologists and policy makers are facing big challenges. Isha originally produced this story for the Peninsula Press, a project of Stanford Journalism. The Gen Anthro version of the piece has been edited by Leslie Chang and Mike Osborne.

What will New York City look like in 2140? Scifi author Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest novel explores a possible future in which NYC is partly submerged, due to catastrophic sea level rise. In this conversation with producer Mike Osborne, KSR discusses the bedrock of science and economics in 'New York 2140,' his writing process for the novel, and of course, the Anthropocene. This is the second time Mike has interviewed KSR! Listen to their first conversation here: bit.ly/2sDV5eA

Once upon a time, Miles crashed a server with his project ‘Geology of Game of Thrones’. Today on the show, we're featuring a short piece in which Miles shares the backstory to the project (and the server hullaballoo), as well as the connection he sees between ‘Geology of GoT’ and the Anthropocene. Today’s episode was produced by Eileen Williams of the Stanford Storytelling Project, and was originally broadcast on their podcast ‘State of the Human.’ Check out the entire State of the Human episode titled ‘Crashing’: http://apple.co/2s6Nvq7 And the full ‘Geology of Game of Thrones’: http://bit.ly/2tie8rD

Capitalocene – maybe it doesn’t roll off the tongue, but a group of thinkers argue the term is preferable to Anthropocene because it's more diagnostic of what underlies our environmental problems. One of those thinkers is Christian Parenti, a reporter and scholar. In 2011 Parenti published ‘Tropic of Chaos,’ a book about the connections between climate and conflict. More recently, he contributed to the book ‘Anthropocene or Capitalocene?’ where he lays out the case for why the state is an environment-making institution, and why the state should be the entity we look to in order to start remedying environmental issues.

We hear a lot in the news about the Antarctic ice sheet melting – but other than climate change, it’s hard to imagine what else threatens a place so cold, so remote, and so seemingly barren. What other ecological protection could the southern continent possibly need? But Antarctica is...a really weird place. No single country “owns” or governs Antarctica, so decisions about conservation are a huge challenge that involve diplomacy and cooperation. On today’s show, we learn about polar history and the recent fight to save the surprisingly biodiverse waters of Antarctica’s Ross Sea. Image: John B. Weller

How is climate change going to affect national security and the work of our armed forces? On today’s show, Admiral Lee Gunn shares his perspective on this overlooked topic. Now retired from the Navy, Admiral Gunn has been working on connections between climate and military intervention for many years. In this conversation, he discusses the implications for climate refugees, the idea of climate change as a threat multiplier, the politics inside the armed forces, and some of new technologies the military is adopting as the climate threat grows.

‘Trump on Earth’ is a new podcast about the environment under the Trump administration. They’re doing a fantastic job keeping tabs on policy changes coming out of Washington, so today on Gen Anthro, we want to feature one of their episodes – an interview with renowned climate scientist Michael Mann. Back in March, Mann testified before the House Science committee, and in this interview he talks about what it was like to be the ONLY participant on the panel who supported the scientific consensus on global warming. Check out Trump on Earth: http://apple.co/2qiegtZ More info on the hearing at the Committee of Science, Space, and Technology where Michael Mann testified on March 29, 2017: http://bit.ly/2nVs3BJ

How do cultural constructs, like race, influence our relationship to the natural world? Poet and professor Camille Dungy explores this question by highlighting African-American voices in her 2009 anthology, “Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry.” In this conversation with producer Jackson Roach, Camille shares her perspective on the intersection of race, identity, history, and the human-environment relationship. Link to “Black Nature”: http://amzn.to/2qYkxbn Camille’s forthcoming book, “Guidebook to Relative Strangers”: http://amzn.to/2rSFZ1q

In the pursuit of justice, Superman leaps tall buildings in a single bound; Ironman uses incredible technology to defeat evil forces; and Batman outfits himself with everything a flying-vigilante-mammal needs to fight the corrupt underbelly of Gotham City. In their own way, every superhero is trying to make the planet a better place for us mere humans. But given the global environmental crisis underway, shouldn’t we examine superheroes more thoroughly? As fellow inhabitants of Earth, we owe it to ourselves to question how many pounds of carbon dioxide the Batmobile releases into the atmosphere; how much Ironman contributes to global warming; or what superpowers are really saving the planet, and which might actually be hurting it. On today’s episode, Mike and Leslie speak with Miles Traer, the creator of the “Carbon Footprint of Superheroes” project. It’s every bit as strange and incredible as it sounds. "Carbon Footprint of Superheroes" in its entirety: http://bit.ly/2rd6pxR