The Anthropocene! Beyond the Natural
— Oregon State University 2017

"The Anthropocene! Beyond the Natural?" presentation at Oregon State University, March 16, 2017, at a book launch for Stephen M. Gardiner and Allen Thompson, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics ( New York: Oxford University Press, 2017). Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/181769

Rolston was one of four contributors to the handbook who made short presentations at this event, followed by a panel discussion. Only the Rolston presentation is here, 31 minutes. We are now entering the Anthropocene Epoch, so runs a recent enthusiastic claim. Humans can and ought go beyond the natural and powerfully engineer a better planet, managing for climate change, building new ecosystems for a more prosperous future. Perhaps the Anthropocene is inevitable. But: Rejoice? Accommodate? Accept it, alas? Perhaps the wiser, more ethical course is not so much beyond as keeping the natural in symbiosis with humans. Enter the Semi-Anthropocene! Basically Natural! Carefully!

The print version of the article is online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/178714