#rolandshaw

I understand the anthropocene as an ecology in its own right. Just as the noosphere takes the world of thought as its defining characteristic or the holocene involves that which is recent, the very existence of an ecology relies upon a certain set of parameters which define what it contains and what it excludes. This anthropocene, then, deals with mankind, culture and the natural environment, amongst other things. 

The second law of thermodynamics states that, within a certain defined parameter or  closed system, there will always be a decrease in the energy contained therein, otherwise known as entropy. Here, too, the very existence of entropy can only come about in the presence of a specifically defined boundary. This can be understood as an ecology.

In the light of the present research, we could take the view that the anthropocene marks a negative phase in the evolution of the planet, but this work for me is not a question of charting a decline, but rather about seeing this decline within its own parameters, and then within another set of parameters still. In other words, what we come to perceive as belonging to one particular ecology can also be reframed as belonging to another. There can be a level of entropy within one closed parameter, when we rethink this parameter the entropic state can be reframed, recharged and possibly inverted. 

Roland Shaw