Conceptual Dictionary of the Anthropocene: Enhanced Vocabulary for the Contemporary Environmental Experience (Part 3)

Sérgio Luiz de Matteo
Oct 26
7 min read

Cybernetic Gaia

The Earth globe enveloped by a network of light lines (representing data and information), with small satellites and sensor points spread across the surface, suggesting a digital nervous system or an artificial intelligence connected to Earth.

Definition: A concept that updates the Gaia hypothesis (Earth as a self-regulating system) by incorporating digital technologies and artificial intelligence as elements of planetary self-regulation systems. It proposes that technological networks can amplify the monitoring, data processing, and adaptive response capabilities of terrestrial systems, functioning as a kind of "nervous system" or "cortex" for the planet.

Gender: Female (F)

Perspectives:

Cybernetics/Systems Theory: Applies principles of control and communication to complex systems, such as the planet.
Philosophy of Technology: Explores the ethical and ontological implications of integrating advanced technologies with natural systems.
Global Ecology: Analyzes the role of information and large-scale monitoring in the management and resilience of the biosphere.

Example: Global sensor networks that monitor oceanic and atmospheric temperature, pollution levels, ecosystem health, and species movements in real-time act as the nervous system of a Cybernetic Gaia, enhancing adaptive responses to environmental changes and enabling data-driven decision-making.

Genocene

A downward spiral of extinction, with silhouettes of animals and plants disappearing, or a symbolic species graveyard, where tombstones represent different extinct creatures, with the shadow of human activity (factories, deforestation) in the background

Definition: A geological period characterized by the mass extinction of species caused by human activity. This term emphasizes the deadly dimension of the Anthropocene, highlighting biodiversity annihilation processes as a definitive hallmark of the current era, with irreversible consequences for the web of life and ecosystem stability.

Gender: Male (M)

Perspectives:

Conservation Biology: Quantifies and studies extinction patterns, their causes, and consequences for ecosystems.
Environmental Ethics: Questions the morality of life destruction and human responsibility for the annihilation of other species.
Environmental History: Documents the trajectory of biodiversity loss and its relationship with the development of human societies.

Example: The loss of 68% of vertebrate populations since 1970 marks the Genocene as an era of unprecedented biological impoverishment in Earth's history, with the current extinction rate being hundreds of times greater than the natural background rate.

Responsibility Gradient

A ascending ramp, with "developed countries" and industries at the top, emitting smoke and consuming resources, and "developing countries" or vulnerable communities at the bottom, suffering the impacts (floods, droughts), with labels indicating "greater responsibility" and "greater impact.

Definition: The recognition that responsibility for environmental crises is not uniformly distributed, varying according to factors such as economic power, geopolitical position, access to resources, historical emissions, and the capacity to influence decisions affecting the environment. This gradient highlights global and local asymmetries in contributing to the crisis and in the capacity to address it, which is fundamental for environmental justice.

Gender: Male (M)

Perspectives:

Political Ecology: Analyzes the power relations that determine who causes more harm and who suffers more from it.
International Relations: Studies the differentiated responsibilities between developed and developing countries in the context of climate negotiations.
Environmental Ethics: Develops principles of justice that consider historical capacity and blame in the distribution of environmental burdens and benefits.

Example: Developed countries occupy a higher position on the responsibility gradient due to their historical carbon emissions and disproportionate resource consumption, while Pacific island nations, despite minimally contributing to climate change, suffer its most severe impacts (sea-level rise), evidencing the injustice.

Multispecies Dwelling

A city or neighborhood that fluidly integrates natural elements: buildings with vertical gardens, bridges serving as animal passages, bees pollinating flowers in squares, and people sharing spaces with wildlife in a harmonious environment.

Definition: The practice of creating and maintaining shared living spaces between humans and other species, recognizing that we inhabit a common planet and that our destinies are interconnected. It goes beyond passive coexistence to seek active forms of interspecies collaboration, co-design of environments, and recognition of the agency and needs of non-humans in the construction of our habitats.

Gender: Male (M)

Perspectives:

Urbanism/Architecture: Proposes the design of cities and buildings that integrate wildlife and ecosystems, such as green roofs, ecological corridors, and pollinator gardens.
Anthropology/Sociology: Studies the daily interactions between humans and non-humans in urban and rural spaces, and how these relationships shape cultures.
Environmental Ethics: Develops a morality that guides coexistence and mutual care among all species in the same place.

Example: Architectural projects that include bird nests, pollinator gardens, and green corridors for urban fauna practice multispecies dwelling by designing cities inclusive of different life forms, recognizing their vital role in the urban ecosystem.

Environmental Hypermnesia

A collage of vivid photographs of lush natural landscapes (forests, oceans, glaciers), overlapping and almost disappearing over photos of their current degradation, with a large, sharp eye in the center, symbolizing acute memory and the ability to recall.

Definition: An exacerbated capacity to recall and relive details of experiences related to nature, often associated with an awareness of its fragility or imminent disappearance. This contrasts with environmental amnesia (or "shifting baseline syndrome"), which normalizes degradation and forgets how the environment used to be, keeping alive the memory of landscapes and ecosystems in their fullness.

Gender: Female (F)

Perspectives:

Cognitive Psychology/Memory: Studies how memory is selective and how traumatic or significant events can amplify recall.
Cultural Studies/Archaeology of Memory: Analyzes the role of individual and collective memory in identity formation and in responding to environmental crises.
Philosophy of Perception: Explores how the awareness of imminent loss sharpens the perception and appreciation of what is present.

Example: Documentary photographers develop environmental hypermnesia by documenting melting glaciers, retaining a visceral memory of landscapes that may not exist for future generations, which drives them to document every detail before it is lost.

Hyperobject

An abstract representation of the planet Earth, with elements such as the ocean, atmosphere, and land merging into a formless and almost incomprehensible mass, with small human figures trying to observe or touch fragments of the mass, symbolizing the difficulty of apprehending the totality of the hyperobject.

Definition: A term coined by philosopher Timothy Morton to describe entities so massive in their temporal and spatial distribution that they transcend direct perception or localization by individual humans. Hyperobjects are "that which is out there" (the climate, global warming, the biosphere as a whole, nuclear waste that will last millennia) and affect us in profound ways, but which we cannot apprehend in their totality at once or in a single place. They force the dissolution of traditional distinctions between human and non-human, culture and nature, and challenge our capacity for representation and action.

Gender: Male (M)

Perspectives:

Ontological Philosophy/Phenomenology: Questions human perception, the ontology of objects, and the capacity of human language and thought to deal with extreme scales and complexities, forcing a revision of how we understand reality.
Environmental Studies/Posthumanism: Offers a framework for thinking about the materiality of environmental crises and non-human agency at a planetary level, recognizing that we are part of much larger systems.
Art/Literature: Inspires new ways of representing the invisible, diffuse, and inescapable human impact on Earth, exploring the aesthetics of the sublime and the terrible.

Example: The "climate" is the hyperobject par excellence. We cannot "see" or "touch" it in its totality, as it manifests in complex systems of gases, ocean currents, weather patterns, and extreme events dispersed across the entire planet and over a vast period of time. However, its manifestations (floods, droughts, melting glaciers) directly affect us, revealing its inescapable presence.

Climatic Imaginary

A collage of diverse visual elements: an ascending temperature graph, an image of a polar bear on a melting iceberg, a scene from an apocalyptic film, the cover of a science fiction book, and people protesting with climate signs, all interconnected by an aura of thought and representation.

Definition: The set of images, narratives, symbols, metaphors, and representations through which societies understand and respond to climate change. This includes both scientific representations (graphs, models) and cultural ones (films, literature, artworks, news), influencing public policies, individual behaviors, and the collective perception of what the crisis is, who is to blame, and what the possible solutions are.

Gender: Male (M)

Perspectives:

Cultural Studies/Media: Analyzes how media and popular culture construct and disseminate images and narratives about the climate.
Sociology of Public Perception: Studies how climate representations affect people's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding the crisis.
Social Psychology: Investigates the role of the imaginary in forming collective identities and mobilizing for climate action.

Example: Science fiction films about climate catastrophes shape the climatic imaginary by creating associations between global warming and apocalyptic scenarios, influencing public perceptions of the future and, at times, generating fear and paralysis, or, conversely, driving the search for solutions.

Infrastructure of Care

A diagram showing an urban ecosystem with different interconnected components: community gardens, a rainwater harvesting system, solar panels, a community center, people helping each other and caring for animals or plants, forming a network of support and sustainability.

Definition: The set of practices, technologies, institutions, social networks, and affective relationships aimed at maintaining and regenerating life in its multiple forms (human, non-human, ecosystemic). It includes both technical systems (sanitation, renewable energy) and affective networks of mutual support among humans and non-humans, recognizing care as a fundamental organizing principle for sustainability.

Gender: Female (F)

Perspectives:

Sociology of Care/Feminism: Expands the concept of care beyond the domestic sphere, recognizing it as a fundamental dimension of social and political life.
Urbanism/Spatial Planning: Proposes the design of cities and communities that prioritize health, well-being, and ecological resilience.
Political Ecology: Analyzes how infrastructures of care can be built in a just and equitable manner, combating inequalities in the distribution of vital resources.

Example: Community gardens function as an infrastructure of care by combining healthy food production, environmental education, strengthening social bonds, creating habitats for urban species, and providing spaces for coexistence, thereby promoting environmental and social regeneration simultaneously.

Generational Justice

A timeline where past, present, and future generations are represented. The hands of present generations hold an Earth globe, and smaller hands (future generations) reach out to receive it, indicating the responsibility to pass on a healthy planet.

Definition: An ethical principle that considers the rights and interests of future generations in present decisions, especially those with long-term environmental and social impacts. It questions the "tyranny of the present" over the future and proposes mechanisms for representing generational interests, ensuring that today's actions do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Gender: Female (F)

Perspectives:

Philosophical Ethics: Develops theories on the moral obligations of present generations towards future ones, including debates on the rights of the unborn.
Constitutional/Environmental Law: Seeks to incorporate the principle of generational justice into laws and constitutions, ensuring the protection of the environment for the future.
Ecological Economics: Analyzes how today's economic decisions affect the stock of natural capital available to future generations.

Example: Constitutions that include the rights of future generations to a healthy environment apply generational justice by limiting present actions that may compromise the well-being of yet-to-be-born descendants, requiring long-term impact assessments for major projects.

Multispecies Justice

A stylized courtroom, where the judge and lawyers are represented, but in place of defendants or accusers, there are symbols or representations of a river, a forest, or an animal, indicating that their rights are being judged or defended.

Definition: An ethical and legal principle that extends concepts of justice and rights beyond the human species, recognizing that other life forms (animals, plants, rivers, mountains, ecosystems) possess legitimate interests, intrinsic value, and their own rights that must be considered and protected in decision-making processes affecting their habitats and well-being. It is a way to de-anthropocentrize justice.

Gender: Female (F)

Perspectives:

Comparative Law/Legal Theory: Analyzes and proposes the incorporation of nature's rights into national and international legal systems.
Environmental Philosophy/Animal Ethics: Provides the foundation for extending moral consideration to non-human beings and ecosystems.
Political Anthropology: Draws inspiration from indigenous cosmologies that recognize natural entities as subjects of law with their own agency.

Example: The granting of legal rights to the Whanganui River in New Zealand represents an application of multispecies justice by recognizing the river as a legal entity with its own rights, allowing its interests to be defended in court.

Ecological Grief

A silhouetted person, with their back turned, looking at a scene of environmental desolation (dead trees, a dry river), with a single tear rolling down their face, and happy memories of the same landscape in its natural state (transparent) superimposed on the scene of degradation.

Definition: The psychological and emotional process of coming to terms with the loss of ecosystems, species, landscapes, cultural traditions linked to nature, or even a sense of a secure future due to environmental degradation. It includes stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, and can evolve into forms of environmental action and engagement. It differs from grief for personal losses by its collective, diffuse, and often continuous nature.

Gender: Male (M)

Perspectives:

Psychology/Psychiatry: Offers frameworks for understanding and treating psychological distress associated with environmental loss.
Sociology/Anthropology: Analyzes the cultural and social manifestations of ecological grief in different communities, especially those directly dependent on the environment.
Public Health Studies: Investigates the impacts of environmental degradation on mental health and the role of ecological grief.

Example: Coastal communities experience ecological grief when witnessing the progressive bleaching of coral reefs that have sustained their cultural and economic traditions for generations, feeling the loss of a living heritage and a way of life.