This article,”Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene“,  by a guy who was in the US Army as it went into Baghdad, is a genuine “must-read.”  It doesn’t say much that many of us don’t already know, but it is beautifully written, full of genuinely useful links.

This bit was droll –

Geological time scales, civilizational collapse and species extinction give rise to profound problems that humanities scholars and academic philosophers, with their taste for fine-grained analysis, esoteric debates and archival marginalia, might seem remarkably ill suited to address. After all, how will thinking about Kant help us trap carbon dioxide? Can arguments between object-oriented ontology and historical materialism protect honeybees from colony collapse disorder? Are ancient Greek philosophers, medieval theologians, and contemporary metaphysicians going to keep Bangladesh from being inundated by rising oceans?

And this bit is savagely beautiful

Across the world today, our actions testify to our belief that we can go on like this forever, burning oil, poisoning the seas, killing off other species, pumping carbon into the air, ignoring the ominous silence of our coal mine canaries in favor of the unending robotic tweets of our new digital imaginarium. Yet the reality of global climate change is going to keep intruding on our fantasies of perpetual growth, permanent innovation and endless energy, just as the reality of mortality shocks our casual faith in permanence.

For “robotic tweets” here in Manchester just substitute “boostering blog posts about China-Manchester ties”  (maybe we should call it the China Syndrome?)

Marc Hudson

PS I do believe there is an expression they use in the killing game – “FUBAR“…

PPS Thanks to Canadian Sam, as ever, for steering me to it.

PPS A slick youtube video called “Welcome to the Anthropocene”

PPS An old and not slick video. “The Anthropocene in a digital minute.”