Takes From The Anthropocene

This episode from Claire Taagen in fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines climate change, ideas of displacement and ways in which we can combat these rising global challenges.

40% of the world's population is at risk of being impacted by sea-level rise. Taagen explains why western views of nature are harmful to the environment and human social justice, both directly and indirectly.

Displacement is strongly impacted by environmental degradation, and displaced communities often struggle to survive and rebuild, while diseases often spread more quickly. Displacement is especially prevalent among Indigenous and low-income communities.

Listen in for how large corporations and bureaucrats exacerbate these issues as well as how we can work to minimize them.

This episode from Roxanne Stacy in fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines the importance of diversity in making global changes through health care. 

Stacy begins by introducing anthropologist Paul Farmer's book, "Mountain's Beyond Mountains." He acknowledges that the same health issues affect people differently depending on their access to healthcare. Stacey does not focus on poverty, but rather on how different demographics have different access to health care.

This topic is especially relevant with the current pandemic. Even within the U.S., different regions and demographics have different levels of accessibility to health care and disaster recovery. One of the largest problems is that, even when recovery agencies try to step in to help, if they aren't familiar with the struggling community's culture, they can cause more damage than good. 

Listen in for how diversity in leadership can help prevent some of these major issues.

This episode from Zoe Schutte in fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines water as a human right and how trends and lenses about water have changed over time. Schutte begins by defining environmental justice before delving into environmental injustices around water. Certain communities are disproportionally impacted by water-related injustices, as exemplified by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and Bolivia. Listen in for an in-depth examination of these problems and some solutions to these major issues.

This episode from Althea Kress in fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines farming practices and strategies that have been passed down through generations and how strategies such as curated burns can help save and preserve our forests. Recently, forest fires have been a major issue, and they are exacerbated by other human-caused issues like climate change. Kress gives insight about how the wisdom and passed-down experience of Indigenous communities can be used to prevent future disasters like the fires from the past year.

This episode from Olivia Heifetz in fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines the idea of disaster capitalism. Heifetz proposes ways to view disaster capitalism and highlights who and what it affects the most. Heifetz collects numerous examples as to why humans should care about decorporatizing disaster and ways humans can move to prevent it in the future. Heifetz explains the difference between slow-onset and acute disasters and how they affect communities, both in the U.S. and abroad. Even disaster relief programs sometimes participate in disaster capitalism or disaster politics. Heifetz breaks down the difference and expands on where some of these disasters come from and suggests some possible solutions.

This episode from Charles Borngrebe in fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines monumental current issues, such as conservation and climate change, and challenges the modern framing strategies that surround them. Borngrebe proposes new ways in which to think about these issues and highlights ways we can learn from our past. Particular focus is on conservation and economics of environmentalism as well as traditional Native American strategies to preserve the environment. Politics also has a strong framing power that has been used so far to shift public views on conservation with relation to economies and natural disasters.

This episode from Meriel Hahn in Fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines our current view of the world and ways in which we can move to understand this view and its effects better. Hahn's episode also touches on ways in which the human perception of the world has changed over the past few decades and speculates the real effect this change will have on humans. Hahn explains different takes on topics such as wilderness preserves and control over nature. Hahn defines the Anthropocene and what it means for the planet.

This episode from Ti Stroup in Fall 2020’s ANTH 405, Public Anthropology and Global Environmental Challenges, class at Colorado State University examines the rise of ocean pollution over the last few decades and some ways in which we can teach ourselves and future generations responsible practices and solutions to help preserve our world's largest bodies of water. This episode touches on significant issues such as pollution, run-off and how fast pollution can reach all ends of the earth. Stroup examines the reasons for the continued use of harmful pollutants, especially in government-regulated departments, as well as why preserving reefs is important for human communities. Stroup concludes with suggestions for ways to prevent damage from chemical pollution.