Anthropocene

Abstract

Coastal subsidence, warming ocean temperatures, and rising sea levels have left cities like Miami and Mumbai particularly vulnerable as increased cyclonic activity threatens already compromised urban infrastructures. Atmospheric carbon, the primary cause of global warming and thus sea-level rise, has surpassed the threshold for sustaining life (McKibben 2008; Jones 2017). The earth is currently experiencing its sixth mass extinction event with nearly 100 species disappearing daily (Dawson 2016, 9; Broswimmer 2002, 1); approximately two-thirds of global coral reef systems have died; and endemic drought and famine have and will continue to cause mass displacement in the form of so-called climate refugees. These phenomena, among others, have amplified the material legacy of combined and uneven development, especially in the Global South where colonial-era plantation regimes laid the groundwork for centuries of ecological and economic devastation.[1]