Anthropocene Geopolitics: Our Current Geological Age

Sponsored by University of Ottawa Press

Recorded on 12/13/2021
Posted in The Authority File

Episode 233

Since the start of industrialization, the Earth has undergone many changes. Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has spiked. New sediments of carbon-rich deposits (plastic) pollute our shores. Tunnels and mines have made “geological phenomena look like Swiss cheese.” If a geologist 10,000 years in the future looked back on this period of human existence, what would they think? Would the amount of human-made effects on the Earth call for a new geological age?

In this second episode, Simon Dalby, author of Anthropocene Geopolitics: Globalization, Security, Sustainability, digs into the debate around the our current geological age: the Anthropocene period. He explains the complications of using geology—a practice that looks to the past—to designate the present circumstances, and the urgency to define this period in the first place. Last, Simon discusses the importance of “planetary boundaries,” and why we need to obey them if we want to continue living on a habitable planet.

About the guest:

Simon Dalby
Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University

Simon Dalby is a professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, where he teaches in the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and at the University of Victoria, and holds a doctoral degree from Simon Fraser University. Before joining Wilfrid Laurier University, he was a professor of geography, environmental studies, and political economy at Carleton University.

Enjoy the conversation? Listen to the rest of the series:

• Book Origins and Multidisciplinary Approaches
• Living in a Globalized World
• Climate Change Effects and Future Policies

Check out our previous series with the University of Ottawa Press:
– Looking at Canadian Community Development
– What We Can Learn from a COVID-19 Spring

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