In the second of our two-part series, we go head-to-head on the Anthropocene, after the status of ‘Anthropocene’ was rejected for the world by an international panel last month. Read Part 1 here of the debate here.

As ecological disaster on Earth looms ever larger, the International Union of Geological Sciences has voted against recognizing the Anthropocene as an official epoch. The vote was anti-scientific and regressive, argues Timothy Morton. Now more than ever we must recognize that we have entered an age of human-induced planetary transformation.

Timothy Morton's latest book, Hell: In Search of a Christian Ecology, will be published in May 2024.

You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.  — Treebeard the Ent in J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien’s Treebeard is an ancient shepherd of the forest: he understands deep time like a geologist. In the movie, he’s talking to Merry and Pippin about discussing whether he and his fellows should join the war in defense of Middle Earth. The Hobbits are getting justifiably impatient: “Our friends are out there!”