An Ethics of Entanglement for the Anthropocene

Cyberneticist and ecological philosopher Gregory Bateson is well known for his assertion that the basic unit of survival on earth is the organism-plus-environment, and so any organism that destroys its environment is committing suicide (1972: 491). In this paper I take this statement of interdependency not only to mean that the organism requires an environment to survive, but also that the organism is inseparable from the environment, and is itself an environment for others. Looking at the world from the perspective of the Anthropocene reveals patterns of connection that bind flesh to earth, sea and sky on a multispecies planet. Atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen coined the term 'Anthropocene' to describe a new geological age initiated by the human species where 'human activities have become so pervasive and profound that they rival the great forces of Nature' (Steffen, Crutzen and McNeill 2007: 614). Ben Dibley poetically observes that the Anthropocene 'vividly captures the folding of the human into the air, into the sea, the soil' (2012: Online)