Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Encounter with the capitalocene

Claire’s suggestions of a capitalocene over an Anthropocene, because it is inclusive in its attacks on the things that legitimise capitalism, such as colonialism, is inspiring. However, I would disagree with her notion to place humans into nature, because like animals and plants, they are something the capitalocene puts to work, as this creates a binary of humans either as a geological force causing the climate crisis, or a part of nature being put into a crisis. Intra-action allows for a co-existence, in that we can be both the geological force that the Anthropocene/capitalocene has been described as, and also be placed in nature. Timothy Clark's chapter on liberalism and ecocriticism raises the point that if every human was to live to the standard of an American, we would require the resources of three planets (106). Therefore, it would we impossible to part the human experience from capitalism without causing unrest to liberal values that many would argue are essential to being human. For me, this raises the question that, before we can answer whether the climate crisis should be an Anthropocene or a capitalocene, we need to look at the role of the individuals in natureculture, and we need to question what impacts we have as individuals to unlock a new liberalism where there is no separation of our involvements in nature or capitalism.

I've been recycling for about three years now. I started with aluminum cans and now recycle newspaper, glass, plastic and cardboa… | Recycling, Bein green, Dog mess

This image invokes the green moralism that Timothy Clark questions. While it is evidently good to recycle, the image is intrusive as it does not consider the barriers to entry to recycling. There are plenty reasons why people might not be recycling, particularly if we consider for example the impact COVID has had on our dependency of single use plastics such as face-masks. But this does not mean the individual cannot have a liberalist agency, they can use their voice to compel change. Part of being human and having an infinite capacity in the liberalist sense is to be able to invoke change beyond our necessities, and this is something that will have to be considered. 

This video explores the green new deal (GND) and entails what will happen to individuals as a consequence of changes to mitigate climate change. It also portrays the counter arguments – that it is expensive, or socialist. This video made me consider why the capitalocene is not a good term – as it is divisive, and will play into the hands of those against the GND because it has a "political agenda". Therefore, the video's most compelling moment was displaying what the GDR meant to individuals, as it allows us to imagine our role in what lies ahead.

Works cited:
“Liberalism and Green Moralism.” The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment, by Timothy Clark, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011, pp. 102–110. Cambridge Introductions to Literature. 

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