Ecomyopia in the Anthropocene

 

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. December 3-7, 2014. Washington, DC.

Casagrande, D.G., E.C. Jones, F.S. Wyndham, J.R. Stepp, and R. Zarger

abstract

Homo sapiens passed through four major ecological transitions: the advent of language followed by the agricultural, industrial (fossil fuel), and information revolutions. Each transition increased our capacity to alter natural processes, profoundly shifted worldviews, and afforded new opportunities for elite consolidation of power. Now, we find ourselves perched on the precipice of a fifth great transition. There is growing consensus that we have left the Holocene and entered the Anthropocene: a new geological epoch in which humanity is the dominant force shaping the planet. We consider the spread of anthropogenic landscapes across the Holocene and the implications of shifting ecological baselines across generations as biological life-systems have been progressively replaced with techno-systems. Each generation receives what is left by the previous generation, materially and informationally, resulting in recognizably canalized trajectories of practice and thought in which human communities become insulated from biological and ecological realities. Using the anthropogenic transformation of the Mississippi River watershed as a case study, we speculate on how hegemony, technocratic belief systems, and flexible accumulation of capital create ecomyopia. Faced with mounting cognitive dissonance resulting from the consequences of anthropogenic change, groupthink accelerates the use of power and technology rather than questioning motives or ecological boundaries. This process will expand globally as the perceived need for centralized management of a global ecosystem proliferates and transhumanism pushes social stratification to levels unimaginable during the Holocene.