Defiant Earth: The Fate of Humans in the Anthropocene by Clive Hamilton is a complex discussion of the coming, or already arrived, Anthropocene Era. Hamilton is an Australian public intellectual and Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and the Vice-Chancellor's Chair in Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University. He is a member of the Board of the Climate Change Authority of the Australian Government, and is the Founder and former Executive Director of The Australia Institute.

This isn't a book warning about climate change. It seems more like the scolding a child receives after doing something wrong. You understand that what you did was wrong and that there is no way to fix it. The scolding seems to go on forever and the same things are repeated over and over again. This is a scolding to mankind.

The Anthropocene Epoch is here. The Holocene is over. The Anthropocene contains the root Anthrop meaning relating to humans or human actions. There is an argument of when this epoch began. Some proposals are the beginning of humans or the beginning of human impact on the earth (Industrial Revolution) or when man knew what he was doing to the earth and accelerated his influence (the 1990s).

This tends to be a very philosophical book rather than a science book. Different views are given and explained and sometimes leads to confusion whether these are a part of the author's thesis or if he is arguing against it. Some are obvious like those welcoming the new epoch as a fresh beginning. There are even Evangelical Christians who are taking cruises to Antartica hoping to see the becoming of the new Eden. There are those who also think that we can return to the safety of the Holocene if we work at it or develop new technology. Still others like Reagan's former Interior Secretary James Watt believed that the Natural Resources should be used because the Lord was due back soon and they won't be needed after that. Other Christians argue what is meant by taking dominion over the earth -- plunder or stewardship.

Hamilton brings philosophy into the mix citing Marx, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Kant are all used to examine man's actions. Technological industrialization is given the lion's share of the blame. Even as the West cleans up its act to prevent destruction, the destruction continues. The West now blames China and other countries for damaging the earth system. That blame comes right back as China manufactures goods for the West. It is still the same planet. Moving industry from one spot to another does not make it disappear.

All in all, Defiant Earth is a difficult read. It is much more an academic level text than a general public reading. It does feel like a lecture like I mentioned before and certain items, phrases, and themes seem to repeat to the point I was not sure my Kindle was actually saving my place in the book. "You knew you were wrong since the 1990s yet chose to keep destroying the earth and destroying it at an accelerated rate." Perhaps this is the shock we need, or more precisely, the realization that we need. ( )

Power Without Wisdom

In the Preface to Defiant Earth, Clive Hamilton asks a hard question: if science says the climate is changing cataclysmically, why are we still making plans as if it weren’t? Why do we study the century of China, the future need for a 15 hour workweek, or life under the internet of things? Why are we whistling past the graveyard? This would make for a great book. Unfortunately, not this book. Instead, this book is about giving Homo Sapiens (HS) full “credit” for actually changing the Earth System itself. That is huge, he says, and makes HS outstanding. This is a book of philosophy, not science.

The Anthropocene began in 1945, when the chart began to look like a hockey stick. For a couple of hundred years before, HS polluted, but its numbers were so small and technology so minimal, it made no measurable difference to the Earth System. Hamilton’s argument is that the Anthropocene is a full rupture, not a continuation. It is too late to go back to the Holocene. That’s over, and spraying shrapnel into the atmosphere will not bring it back. From now on, everything HS does will result in an angry response. While HS tinkers with the balance of nature, the Earth System, which includes everything, responds with far more power.

Hamilton says HS deserves “credit” for its “agency” in the Anthropocene, because not only has it has caused this rupture, but HS could decide not to continue if it so desired. This is of course absurd and nothing in the book backs it up. HS had no idea what it was doing when it loused up the environment, and is and has always been out of control. HS could in no way stop this, and has never been able to even alter the course. Had HS had the simple decent courtesy to control its own numbers, then it could have remained inside the Earth System, and the system could have dealt with its effluent. But HS was too ignorant to do even that little.

Doubling down, two thirds through Defiant Earth, the real arrogance comes out, as Hamilton claims HS gives Earth meaning, and without HS Earth is nothing.

From what I see, Earth is like a wet dog, about to shake the annoying water out of its fur. When it has rid itself of the irritant, the violent storm will calm. It doesn’t matter to Earth or Earth System science that Homo Sapiens is the smartest thing it ever produced. It is an irritant, breaking the rules and operating outside the system. Credit is not a concept I would associate with these random, irresponsible and uncoordinated acts.

Hamilton argues thoroughly and I disagree with him totally.

David Wineberg ( )