Field Guide to the Anthropocene

The Field Guide to the Anthropocene is a weekly essay or letter that explores the significant and often permanent transformations we are causing to our planet. The term "Anthropocene" refers to this new geological era marked by human impact on Earth. Just like a field guide helps you recognize different elements in nature, this guide serves as a resource for understanding the characteristics of the world we now live in and what we will leave for future generations.

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Observer

1 week ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:There is a reason we hold in high regard a person’s “powers” of observation. Observation is neither passive nor casual. It is the active function of awareness, one of the most vital human traits. To be fully aware is to be fully present and attentive, self-reflective and clear-minded, biased toward nothing and conscious of everything.
The Extinction of Experience

2 weeks ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone: For a in-the-moment sense of how intensely dark and stupid the current budget bill is in relation to clean energy and a dangerously heating planet, read the latest post - “A Truly Dark Day in DC” - from The Crucial Years by , who points out (among many other things) that the bill, if passed by the Senate as is, will add a billion tons of greenhouse gases to U.S. emissions by 2035, cripple the rooftop solar and EV industries, shut down battery innovation, and raise energy...
All Ears

3 weeks ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:We are a sight-driven species, but we hear the future before we see it. Our eyes find walls and mirrors while our ears catch hints and echoes on the wind. We hear over the horizon and around the corner, forming images with the mind’s eye long before the shape of what’s to come arrives.
Each Other's Destiny

4 weeks ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:I worry often that the writing I do here sings to an empty hall.
La Verna

1 month ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:One of our favorite walks in this area is the La Verna Preserve. The trail winds for a mile or two through mixed forest, crossing a couple wetlands, on its way to the sea, where a broad view takes in both the spruce-tipped islands dotting Muscongus Bay and the open horizon of the Gulf of Maine.
Antipronatalism

1 month ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:Of all the strange ideas haunting this phase (and the next) of the unplanned Anthropocene experiment, the strangest may be this: There are too few of us, and declining birth rates around the developed world are a threat to the future of humanity.
Ideology vs. the Wood Frog

1 month ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:I only recently remembered that this week marks four years of the Field Guide. I’ve published more than 200 essays (minus some repeats and weeks off) since Earth Day, 2021, all in a quest to usefully describe the strange world we’re making from the astonishing planet we’re unmaking. I’ve tried to strike a balance between articulating the disrupted world for you and reminding you of how beautiful and wonderful that world is. Thank you all for joining me in this effort.
The New Geography of Metal

1 month ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony |Ian Urbina |Bill Davison |Jonathan D. Tonkin

Hello everyone: This is the second half of my update on deep sea mining for polymetallic nodules. This may seem like an odd and arcane topic, but it couldn’t be more relevant to this moment - in terms of politics, technology, and environmental ethics - as we wrestle with the question of how best to enter the next phase of modern civilization. As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news.
Still Digging

2 months ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone: I first published a version of this essay back in 2021, and provided a short update in 2023. The deep sea mining story has lurked in the news all along, in part because the permitting drama is crawling toward a conclusion, and in part because the environmental and ethical issues remain relevant to other aspects of the renewable energy transition. Now, a recent development has compelled me to rework and update the piece for the current moment.
The Roast Penguin Chronicles

2 months ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony |Bryan Pfeiffer

Hello everyone:The Field Guide is taking the week off so that I can bring you some good news: My book, The Roast Penguin Chronicles, has just launched from Compass Rose Press. It’s part memoir, part history of the human experience of Antarctica through a “culinary” lens. The book is built from a century of remarkable stories of life on the ice, from the sagas of early exploration up through the 20th century and recent years, including my own near-decade on the ice.