Desolation and destruction of democracy not an April Fool's Day joke

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n observation today, on April Fool's Day that humans may face desolation in the Anthropocene may seem like a joke, but it’s not, Robyn Eckersley is deadly serious.

Prof Robyn Eckersley - she fears
 for democracy's future.

The Professor of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Melbourne, has written about her concerns on The Conversation.

She writes; “The term Anthropocene has made many democrats nervous about democracy’s future. Earth scientists tell us we have drifted out of the Holocene into the Anthropocene. In this new epoch, humans are the dominant “geological force” shaping the Earth’s systems.”

Prof Eckersley said the 11,500 year-long Holocene has provided a relatively stable climate conducive to the emergence and development of human civilisation.

However, she added, “In contrast, the Anthropocene may be characterised by unpredictable and possibly abrupt and cataclysmic environmental changes.”

Her story - “Anthropocene raises risks of Earth without democracy and without us” – was published today.