ThirstyFish

For up to 7 millenia, this is how people weaved carpets and kilims. They used natural fibers and natural dyes. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, carpets are increasingly manufactured using machines and synthetic fibers such as nylon, polyester, acrylic and polypropylene. Not only did plastics wipe-out the source of income for so many traditional communities, they are having a major environmental toll on earth.

Last week, scientists from all around the world met to decide whether we should rename the current geological epoch, the Anthropocene - the age of human activities having significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems. Ther propose to set the starting point of this new age at the Industrial Revolution. I have a different proposal. The suffix -cene means "related to a geologic period". Maybe we should consider calling the current epoch "Anthropocide", for -cide is what we are doing to earth.

Someone had asked me why I keep on writing about the apocalypse - and not in the original "disclosure of knowledge" meaning of the word. Simple, as things are progressing the way they are, I can't understand why anyone would write about anything else. We can romanticize history, human progress and carpet weaving. But at some time, we've passed a point where so called progress and civilization are actually killing us.