Personal Reflection
What does the Anthropocene mean to me?
How am I related to its many ethical compromises?
At first, the Anthropocene seemed like a straightforward concept. However, the more I engaged with it, zoomed in, tugged at it, and stretched it out, the more complex and contradictory it became. It is both deeply personal and overwhelmingly large—something that shapes my everyday choices while extending far beyond my individual experience.
I was raised in an environmentally conscious household, where I learned to reduce waste and be mindful of consumption. My mom now owns a zero-waste store and continues to raise awareness of the benefits of living a low-waste lifestyle in our household and in our town. This awareness has continued to shape my values. However, this course expanded my understanding by revealing how individual actions are embedded within larger systems and histories, and the responsibilities we have as members of our shared home planet, Earth.
Through this project, I have come to see how everyday decisions—such as how I choose to travel—contribute to broader patterns associated with the Anthropocene. Choosing to bike instead of relying on cars becomes not just a personal preference but part of a larger ethical and environmental framework and are embedded in the overlapping layers of the Phagocene, Thermocene, and Capitalocene of the Grand Narrative.At the same time, this project has made me more aware of the limitations of even “sustainable” practices. Biking, while less harmful than driving, still reflects human-centered priorities. Bike infrastructure, like all infrastructure, occupies space and impacts non-human life. To decenter and destabilize the Anthropos further, I use satire, not literally believing that fish will ride bikes but raising awareness to how every man-made object makes a lasting impact on non-human animals.
Recognizing this complexity is important. Rather than presenting biking as a perfect solution, this project uses it as a way to think critically about human impact, responsibility, and possibility. Through both analysis and satire, this User's Guide aims to highlight how even small actions are entangled in larger ecological systems—and how awareness can be a first step toward change.
This page has paths:
- Training Wheels Tess Ertel
- Feeling the Breeze Tess Ertel
- Some Flat Tires Tess Ertel
- Overview Tess Ertel