Religion and the Anthropocene

  The Breakthrough Institute is a research center based in the Bay Area of California devoted to finding “technological solutions to environmental and human development challenges.” It supports efforts to curb climate change through the implementation of advanced technologies and the rapid modernization of developing countries. Members of the Breakthrough Institute are frustrated by the underutilization of life-saving technologies such as affordable nuclear power, genetic modification in agriculture, and water desalination in the places where they are most needed. “ An Ecomodernist Manifesto ” (2015) is a short outline of the Institute’s philosophy co-authored by 18 of its members who span fields from economics to documentary filmmaking.  “An Ecomodernist Manifesto” is divided into seven sections that each grapple with an element of “ecomodernism.” For the sake of brevity, I will try to summarize each section succinctly but it is essential to note that much detail will be lost...

  Astrid Ulloa gave a talk in March 2020 entitled, “ Anthropocene and Capitalocene in Latin America: Rethinking anthropocentrism or displacing politics and inequalities between humans and non-humans .” The lecture was given as part of the international conference, “Living on the Edge: Studying Conviviality - Inequality in Uncertain Times” in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was posted on YouTube by the channel Mecila Merian Center on May 12, 2020. The talk focused mainly on the growth of anthropocene studies over the last few years and its slow adoption by academics in Latin America. She states that in the last five years the conversation surrounding the Anthropocene has changed completely in that participants have belatedly begun to make more room for countries in the global south and people of color. Ulloa comments that when she began to attend conferences on the Anthropocene five years ago, there were only two participants from Latin America and only two conferences which discussed indige...

  Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics (2005) and SuperFreakonomics (2009) don’t explicitly address the anthropocene, but their analysis of the climate movement as a religion resonates provocatively with our class discussions. Levitt is an American economist currently working as the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, he is also the Faculty Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change. He was co-editor of the Journal of Political Economy as well as the co-founder of a business and philanthropy consulting company. In 2006, after the release of Freakonomics , he was featured as one of Time magazine’s “100 people Who Shape Our World.” Dubner is an award-winning author and journalist. Best known for his works with Levitt he has also released several other books, including, Turbulent Souls/Choosing My Religion (1998), and Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper (2003). Coming from ...

Fabrice Monteiro’s The Prophecy is extremely striking and dynamic in its subject matter and composition. He uses a strong palette to create contrast in the different textures. This artistic manifestation of the destruction that industrialization and capitalism have brought is extremely compelling and powerful. It is important to note that "these sites were chosen precisely because they are neither unique nor remote; these are places where Senegalese people go about their daily lives, impacting the water they drink, the fruits and vegetables they eat." This allows the viewers to experience the daily lives of Senegalians. The photographs highlight the environmental damage,overwhelming mass destruction and emphasize the global inequality of the climate crisis.Therefore, these photos illustrate how we are not only destroying the natural world, but the natural world will soon reclaim our spirits and bodies.  Now let's look at the Hindu figure: Ravana. Ravana was one of the m...

Set in the university garden of La Facultad de Bellas Artes in Madrid, New Opportunity-The Colony , is an ephemeral agro-ecological artist community that radically reinvents and challenges the boundaries between art, aesthetics, agriculture, and social ecology, creating a space for the synergy of diverse knowledge and communal living practices, and nurturing a profound trust in creative power.  This project is one of many manifestations by artist and agroecology activist Fernando Garcia-Dory. The Colony, through exemplary living practices, encourages the importance of kinesthetic learning and radical pedagogy by experimenting with self-organization, sociology, and collective agency that is inspired by spiritually and ideologically based intentional communities.  In a global climate of scarcity and socio-ecological turbulence, The Colony dares to introduce a new ethic. They’ve modeled a space that fosters aesthetic contemplation for ecological revitalization. Not only does the...