Framing the Anthropocene: Educating for Sustainability

• In Event: 68.061 - Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: 68.061-22 - Theoretical (Re)Considerations

Abstract

As the Anthropocene as an epoch emerges, sustainability educators will be confronted by conflicting interpretations of its significance. More than a geological epoch, the Anthropocene marks a turning point for cultural, spiritual, and political ways of moving forward in confronting and framing humankind’s impact on earth systems. In this paper, I examine the frames surrounding the use of the term the Anthropocene and their implications for sustainability education across disciplines. Through the use of ecolinguistics and critical discourse analysis, I argue that the framing of the Anthropocene provides a critical tool for analyzing interpretations and approaches to what it means to be in the midst of an epoch in which humankind’s impact merits a new geologic time frame.

Author

• Geraldine R. McNenny, Chapman University