武汉地区人类世的湖泊沉积指示

"人类世"(Anthropocene)概念是在人类活动引起的全球性环境问题日益突出的背景下提出的。人类世问题近年来已逐步成为环境、地球科学及其相关学科领域的一个研究热点。武汉位于长江中游,汉水与长江交汇之处,是中国中部地区的中心城市,也是全国重要的工业基地和综合交通枢纽,因此开展武汉地区的人类世界限研究对于指示人类活动在自然环境中可开展的安全活动空间具有重要的意义。以武汉市湖泊沉积物中有机氯农药(OCPs)、重金属元素(Zn、Cu、Pb、Hg、Cr)、总磷总氮和沉积色素的含量为标志,结合武汉城市化进程对武汉地区的人类世界限进行了研究。结果表明:武汉地区的人类世界限大概在1960年左右,此时人类活动在湖泊沉积物中留下了标志性的特征。     

Naming,Mourning, and the Work of Earthly Coexistence

Setting out from Jacques Derrida’s assertion that every act of naming is “a foreshadowing of mourning” ([2008. The animal that therefore I am. (M.-L. Mallet, Ed., D. Wills, Trans.). New York, NY: Fordham University Press], p. 20), this paper argues that the work of earthly coexistence is underwritten by the intertwined practices of naming and mourning. The paper demonstrates that names provide access to and shape our perceptions of earthly entities; that the act of naming prepares us for the work of mourning; that the proper names given to endlings provide poignant points of access to species on the edge of extinction; that species names disclose species as such and, thus, enable us to grieve not just particular living organisms but entire ways of life; and that the name given to the current geological epoch, the “anthropocene,” simultaneously reflects and engenders a mode of awareness which enables us to relinquish those ways of being human that no longer seem sustainable and carry forth those that promise to enrich earthly coexistence.     

Remembering the Past,Anticipating the Future: Community Learning and Adaptation Discourse in Media Commemorations of Catastrophic Wildfires in Colorado

Wildfire may be the clearest example to date of a socio-natural hazard that is being exacerbated by climate change, making wildfire an essential lens through which to investigate learning and adaptation in the Anthropocene. Here, we study discourse about simultaneous and recurring catastrophic wildfires in Colorado newspapers. We find that the wildfires’ anniversaries served as opportunities for critical reflection on hazard causality and mitigation in local media, particularly the first anniversary and especially for a community that experienced two catastrophic wildfires in a row. Two mediated prospective memory practices—invoking hindsight as foresight and recognizing a new normal—contributed to this discourse. However, learning and adaptation discourse faded in local media at later anniversaries. These findings contribute to learning and adaptation scholarship by connecting the concept of mediated prospective memory to disaster-related media studies and attending to the intricacies of anniversary commemoration under circumstances of simultaneous and recurring disasters.