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| The dark, descending? |
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| Angry lake, in rare and beautiful sunshine |
Imagine if the people living in Florence in around 1550 or so knew they were living in the Renaissance. When the wealthy looked back on their best days as they grew old maybe they remembered them as a Golden Age. Which for them it was, literally golden, all things considered. Those at the bottom of the heap might have been surprised had they known there was a renaissance happening, as they only just managed to survive their first naissance, never mind doing it again.
The period of time we're living in now has been named the Anthropocene, at least by those writers concerned about climate change. It's defined as "a period of time during which human activities have been the dominant inflluence on climate and the environment." That seems clear to the naked eye. It amounts to a climactic achievement in one sense, as the Christian Bible commanded humans to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." We have indeed managed all those things. The multiplication part was easy, and the subduing and dominating a bit harder, call it a work-in-progress. It was 1989 when Bill McKibben wrote "The End of Nature." He was a bit early.
A work in progress because with as much as we've learned and begun to understand about, for instance, animal behavior or the inner workings of forests, both are still being stressed, subdued, and under pressure, dominated, by us humans. Working to preserve and save or sustain both kinds of living things is a pretty daunting prospect. Even more so when you consider how challenging it is even at the most local level. Like the local level right here in Vermont.
As for instance: This state is seen as being environmentally advanced compared with many other states. And yet: On the wildlife issue our state still operates in 19th century mode. Yes, 19th, not even 20th. I'm thinking of our Fish and Wildlife Commission which continues to support all sorts of trapping (think leghold traps, body crushing traps, etc.), hounding, and unrestricted coyote killing, long shown to be against the wishes of a majority of Vermonters. If we can't be good enough, who can?
We're considered fairly socially advanced too, and I suppose we are on a couple of issues. It's easy of course when our current demographics show 93% of us are white, a mere 1% Black, and other races combined add up to no more than 4%. We're not tested much here on racial issues, so most people come across as unbiased. But who knows, really?
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| BEWARE OF THE DOG, warning found in Pompeii |
Anyway, getting back to the Anthropocene. That's the name of an Age, not an Era. Our own time or era will eventually be dubbed the Era of something or other. What overarching dominating force, for good or evil, might typify the times we're living in? The worst title can think of would be the Trump Era. It would include both a metaphorical and real time span, the living person plus the culture that was prepared to see him as their leader or idol or whatever even before he was on the scene, and the ripple effects that exist during and will exist after his wielding power time. Unfortunately, we are not yet at the after. We may not even be anywhere near the after. Now that is quite a scary thought for our country and its future. But wait: just the other day he said when he wins he's only going to be dictator on day one. Maybe the question he was responding to caught him by surprise. But who knows what he really wants. Well, actually we do. History tells us dictators don't tend to be shy about telling you what they're going to do. They lay it right out there. Almost like a dare. And we can assume the worst that can happen will happen to others. Not to us. And elsewhere. Not here.
Perhaps all will be well after all. Just another Age, just another Era after all.
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