A good example of the usefulness of Google news alerts showed up in my inbox yesterday. A website, actually a blog, called AGW Observer has launched a page devoted to keeping track of scholarly papers on the Anthropocene. While it remains to be seen how effectively this enormous task will be carried out, there are at least two reasons I am glad to know of it. First, the list, even if not comprehensive, is likely to be a useful resource. And second, I had not previously been aware of this blog, which evidently has overlapping interests with those of this class. Now that I am, it becomes possible to connect with it and potentially broaden our circle of information and dialogue.
Here is how the page introduces itself:
This is a list of papers on the new geological epoch called the Anthropocene. The list is not complete, and will most likely be updated in the future in order to make it more thorough and more representative.
And here is a sample of what is being included in the listing — a title, author(s), and year, along with an abstract, full citation, and link.
Is the Anthropocene an issue of stratigraphy or pop culture? – Autin & Holbrook (2012) “The term Anthropocene recently entered into the rhetoric of both the scientific community and the popular environmental movement. Scientific proponents argue that global industrialization drives accelerated Earth-system changes unrivaled in Earth’s history. The discussion now filters into geological stratigraphy with proposals to amend formal time stratigraphic nomenclature (Zalasiewicz et al., 2008, 2010). Environmentalists suggest that terms like Anthropocene foster broad social and cultural awareness of human-induced environmental changes. Advocates argue that greater awareness of humanity’s role in environmental change encourages sustainable resource utilization. Formal recognition of a new geologic epoch helps the broader scientific community solidify the idea of humanity as an Earth-system driver. Before the scientific community ventures too far, we wish to offer comment that considers the practicality of the Anthropocene to geological stratigraphy, the science to which it ultimately applies.” Whitney J. Autin, John M. Holbrook, GSA Today, Volume 22 Issue 7 (July 2012). [Full text]
Here’s the link.
