CARTA presents, “Humans: The Planet-Altering Apes”

CARTA presents, “Humans: The Planet-Altering Apes”
FREE & ONLINE: FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 (12-4:30 p.m., Pacific)

Summary:
CARTA is a broad-based consortium of scholars interested in defining and explaining the evolutionary origins of humans and in generating testable hypotheses and new agendas for research on this subject. CARTA public symposia emphasize our primary objectives –– to explore and explain where we humans came from, and how we got here. Given the focus on human origins, we generally limit discussions of current-day implications and questions regarding the future of humanity.

However, we now feel the urgent moral and practical imperative to call attention to the long- and short-term impact of humans on the planet that we inhabit, and the consequences for the future of our species. Accordingly, on March 5, 2022, CARTA presented “Human Origins and Humanity’s Future: Past, Present and Future of the Anthropocene,” co-chaired by Leslie Aiello (University College London) and Charles Kennel (Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of Cambridge), which introduced discussion on the current age of human activity, coined the “Anthropocene.”

To elaborate upon and extend this discussion, this symposium will address specific examples of how humans have drastically altered the planet. Acknowledged experts will discuss clearly defined global-scale negative impacts on planet earth, our life support system (other than climate change, population growth, and infectious diseases, which are well-known). Each talk will succinctly describe a specific impact, the role that our species has played, and conclude with ongoing or potential approaches to mitigation. In the process, we are coming full circle to Anthropogeny, asking how a single species could have evolved the ability to alter the entire planet so drastically.

Presented by The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA), an UC San Diego ORU. This FREE and online-only, public symposium begins Friday, May 13, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. (Pacific), with LIVE Discussion and Q&A commencing ~ 3:30 p.m. (Pacific).

This is an online-only event. Talks and discussions will be recorded and edited by UCSD-TV, including closed captioning, before being posted on the CARTA website in the weeks following the event. Follow CARTA’s Facebook (@ucsdcarta) and Twitter (@CARTAUCSD) accounts for updates. For registration and details: https://carta.anthropogeny.org/events/humans-planet-altering-apes.

For more info, contact: Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) khunter@ucsd.edu | https://carta.anthropogeny.org