In the year 2000 the well-respected atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen (Nobel Prize winner) coined the word “Anthropocene,” the first geological epoch defined by human impact, or, in other words “the Age of Man.”
He believes that we have pushed planet Earth into a whole new stage of the geological time scale, leaving behind the Holocene epoch which began 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Scientific working groups around the world have since come up with similar findings. The “Anthropocene” is reality.
The year 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded, surpassing the previous record of 2015, which exceeded that of the previous hottest year ever recorded, 2014, according to The New York Times.
Last year we had a glimmer of hope when 190 nations signed on to the climate agreement in Paris in a collective effort to wean ourselves off the dependence on fossil fuels. But precisely at this important moment in history the leading world power elected as president a man who claimed that global warming was a conspiracy invented by the Chinese, and who went on to select as his secretary of state the chairman of Exxon Mobil, as well as a secretary for the Environmental Protection Agency who promised to get rid of the agency altogether.
We who live in the Four Corners will be the first ones to feel the devastating effects of an already issued and signed executive order to roll back regulations on pollution and climate change.
Operators of our local coal power plants feel emboldened and are already taking advantage of the new rules. This summer the all-too-familiar “brown cloud” hovering over the Four Corners will be back.
Adios America!
Ruedi Bear (an immigrant)
Mancos
Editor’s note: Ruedi Bear, 72, was killed in an automobile accident near Mancos on April 27, shortly after he submitted this letter to the Herald.
