ABSTRACT
The Anthropocene has been effectively utilised as a point of coalescence for mounting evidence of anthropogenic ecological degradation. The Anthropocene imaginary invites a radical extension of meaningful relationality, understanding and attending to human–animal and multispecies encounters as worthy of theoretical, methodological, ethical and political attention. The proposed markers of the Anthropocene include carbon spheres emitted by power stations; radioactive elements from nuclear bomb tests; plastic pollution; nitrogen and phosphate in soils and domestic chicken bones; the growth of global cattle populations; the rise of industrial fisheries and, of course, greenhouse gas emissions. It is remarkable how quickly the Anthropocene moniker has become culturally ubiquitous – the subject not just of academic texts and conferences but art, magazines, travelogues, poetry, even an opera. The Anthropocene is a kind of double-uncanny – human beings entering into deep time's register by disrupting it. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
