Changing the Intellectual Climate

This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing at http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n9/full/nclimate2339.html.Calls for more broad-based, integrated, useful knowledge now abound in the world of global environmental change (GEC) science. They evidence many scientists? desire to help humanity confront the momentous biophysical implications of its own actions. But they also reveal a limited conception of social science and virtually ignore the humanities. They thereby endorse a stunted conception of ?human dimensions? at a time when the challenges posed by GEC are increasing in magnitude, scale and scope. Here we make the case for a richer conception predicated on broader intellectual engagement. We then identify some of its practical preconditions. Interdisciplinary dialogue, we suggest, should engender plural representations of Earth?s present and future reflective of divergent human values and aspirations. In turn, this might insure publics and decision makers against overly narrow conceptions of what is possible and desirable as they consider the profound questions raised by GEC.NC acknowledges the Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (AUSCCER) for supporting the conception and completion of this article. DB acknowledges the ESRC (awards RES 070-27-0035 and RES 000-27-0174) for supporting research generative of some ideas contained in this article

The Anthropo-scene: A guide for the perplexed

The scientific proposal that the Earth has entered a new epoch as a result of human activities – the Anthropocene – has catalysed a flurry of intellectual activity. This paper introduces and reviews the rich, inchoate and multi-disciplinary diversity of this Anthropo-scene. It identifies five ways in which the concept of the Anthropocene has been mobilised, as: scientific question, intellectual zeitgeist, ideological provocation, new ontologies and science fiction. This typology offers an analytical framework for parsing this diversity, for understanding the interactions between different ways of thinking in the Anthropo-scene, and thus for comprehending elements of its particular and peculiar sociabilities. The paper deploys this framework to situate Earth Systems Science within the Anthropo-scene, exploring both the status afforded Science in discussions of this new epoch, and the various ways in which the other means of engaging with the concept come to shape the conduct, content and politics of this scientific enquiry. In conclusion the paper reflects on the potential of the Anthropocene for new modes of academic praxis