ABSTRACT
Predictions of just how catastrophic the damage we have caused is vary, but there is consensus that climate change could have devastating consequences. Continued burning of fossil fuels and the release of other pollutants into the atmosphere is changing the makeup of the air we breathe, atmospheric temperature regulation, and the protection we have from the sun. Scranton (2015:19) argues that in order for us to adapt to this strange new world, we're going to need more than scientific reports and military policy. Social scientists are poised to contribute through the ontological turn. Ethics involve responsibility to others, and in the ontological turn that responsibility extends beyond the human to all entities. The Anthropocene came about through human arrogance, particularly (but not solely) the arrogance of dominant, privileged groups. Western ideology centers humanity as having dominion over the rest of the Earth. Zooethnographers engage in both the lifeworld and the experience of nonhuman beings.
