Our Copernican Revolution: Climate Change and the Astrobiology of the Anthropocene
Frank, Adam (2022). Our Copernican Revolution: Climate Change and the Astrobiology of the Anthropocene. Reimagining the Human-Environment Relationship. UN University and UN Environment Programme.
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Sub-type Discussion paper Author Frank, Adam Title Our Copernican Revolution: Climate Change and the Astrobiology of the Anthropocene Series Title Reimagining the Human-Environment Relationship Publication Date 2022-05-18 Place of Publication New York and Geneva Publisher UN University and UN Environment Programme Pages 16 Language eng Abstract Our ability to marshal the collective will to deal with climate change depends in part on the stories we tell ourselves about it. The study of Astrobiology, which addresses life in its full planetary context on any world where that life might occur, offers a new and potentially revolutionary perspective on what is happening to Earth and humanity now. Astrobiology demonstrates how Earth has co-evolved with its life for more than three billion years. It also shows us other planets that have already experienced significant episodes of climate change such as Mars, Venus, or Saturn’s moon Titan, which also tells us a story about planetary climate and dynamics that we can learn from. Taken together, these studies allow us to construct a new story about humanity and its host world at the dawn of the Anthropocene. Rising beyond seeing humans as a kind of virus the planet would be better ridding itself of, we can instead understand ourselves and the global civilization we’ve build as part of the biosphere’s ongoing evolutionary experiments. Seeing climate change from the Astrobiological perspective allows us to see our proper place in the long story of life and the planet. It reveals the need to weave the technosphere we continue to build back into biosphere in a way that allows both to thrive. In this way, climate change may be our Copernican Revolution, a moment when a new truth about planets ushers in new possibilities for human history. UNBIS Thesaurus ASTRONOMY
ENVIRONMENT
CLIMATE
EARTH SCIENCES
HUMAN DEVELOPMENTKeyword Astrobiology
Anthropocene
Stockholm+50
Climate change
Planetary IntelligenceCopyright Holder United Nations University Copyright Year 2022 Copyright type Creative commons -
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