The Anthropocene is not something that will happen in the future, we are already in the midst of it. We have been shaped by the Great Acceleration that has transformed our relationship to the biosphere, our attitude towards production, consumption, and mobility, and our brains in the way they have adapted to all-pervasive patterns of acceleration. And we will need to respond effectively and quickly to the challenges lying ahead. Our responses will often seem contradictory, since we have to address the social and ecological effects of the Great Acceleration and its epistemic and economic root causes, at the same time. This may mean that we are engaging in dynamic solution building via innovative technology and sustainable practices of land use, while, at the same time, embracing philosophical attitudes of letting go or reconnecting with natural life cycles through naturalist or aesthetic practices. New approaches straddling traditional disciplinary boundaries and the ways we think, plan and organize, are aimed both at smarter use and stewardship of planetary resources and at changing our inherited exploitative relationship to the natural world.

We are thus committed to research initiatives that are rooted in an advanced understanding of ongoing Anthropocene research in the Earth sciences and open to a philosophical reflection of this research: How does it change our self-reflection as humans? What does it mean for us as political beings? How can we make the integrity of the natural world - locally and as biosphere - part of political decision-making processes? We are currently building a research network 'Creating better Anthropocenes' with colleagues from the Universities of Leicester, Exeter, and Indiana (Indianapolis and Bloomington). In this network we are offering a platform for facilitating the exchange between scientific research and philosophical reflection. We are particularly interested in devising collaborations with local communities and municipal authorities in fields such as food safety, water quality, traffic, textile industry.

This concern has also led us to collaborate on an initiative with major scholars in the field on creating a Core Anthropocene Curriculum.

As a contribution to initiatives in the wake of COP26 in Glasgow , the ARG is organising workshops on the biome and culture of Amazonia, in collaboration with the Centre of Latin American and Caribbean Studies in 2021-22. Our aim is to celebrate the rich natural and cultural histories of the region, highlight its importance as a vital hotspot of biodiversity and stabliser of global climate, and draw attention to the catastrophic effects ecological degradation and the pandemic have had on indigenous communities throughout the region. These workshops are also an attempt to bring to the fore the importance of locally-focused or indigenous knowledge in environmental management and governance in the Anthropocene.

Yet there is still a tendency in the scientific community to assimilate or ‘fit’ local-scale ecological knowledge within Western world-views of managing nature. Typically though, communities possess the expertise and local knowledge to resolve their own problems and implement their own solutions. Ultimately the aim must be to ensure solutions are equitable, good for the environment, self-reliant and not dependent on long term external support. Solutions should be built on collective values and have a strong underpinning of justice and governance. Our approaches emphasize community-owned approaches so that community members can monitor for themselves the quality, impact and outcomes of initiatives. The Amazon workshops seek to showcase inspiring examples of such community-owned approaches that can form valuable ferments in how we respond to the multiple crises that constitute our human condition today.