Generation Anthropocene

16 April 2013

Tracing networks of disease

We revisit our conversation with biological anthropologist James Holland Jones, who explains how diseases typically spread from animal to human populations and how that might change as our planet continues to warm. He also discusses how we might prevent future epidemics with limited vaccines by looking to community structure and identifying the key bridge populations. It’s all about disease, hemorrhagic fever hopefully not included.

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Are you an environmentalist or do you work for a living?

We revisit one of our first interviews with environmental historian Richard White. He addresses the (mis)perceptions of the natural world, the ambiguities surrounding the Anthropocene boundary, and explains what he meant when he wrote the provocative essay “Are you an environmentalist or do you work for a living.”

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The (mad) science of geoengineering

Climate scientist Ken Caldeira begins with a discussion of ocean acidification, a term he helped coin. He follows with the story of how his name became attached to geoengineering, from his own skeptical beginnings to publishing a paper that basically said, “well, it works in the models but don’t try this at home.” Along the way, Caldeira also shares some funny experiences addressing climate skeptics, including how geoengineering has even helped persuade a few.

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