TAMING TIME
A Golden Spike for the AnthropoceneA graphic science novel about the formalization of a new Earth age ...
concept and script: Alexandra Hamann
science: Reinhold Leinfelder
illustration: Maki Shimizu
in collaboration with Freie Universität Berlin
... told from the perspective of "time".
Time used to be free, until earthlings devided it into sequences and locked it into a rigid corset.
We learn how Earth ages differ and how they are determined.
Since 1950, the impact of human activity on the Earth system has increased rapidly ...
... so that humans are changing the Earth system.
That's why in 2000 the atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen proposed to declare a new Earth age, the Anthropocene.
But to formally define an Earth age, places must be found where it can be read.
A Golden Spike will then be hammered in there.
To find out which places have applied, what requirements they have to meet and whether there is a winner,
please download pdf.
The content of this science graphic novel is largely based on University course lectures and research on the Anthropocene by Reinhold Leinfelder at Freie Universität Berlin and his membership work within the Anthropocene Working Group.
© Hamann, Leinfelder, Shimizu, 2023
licence: CC-BY-NC-ND
For more information please visit our taming time blogspot.
„It’s funny, visually rich, scientifically substantive, deeply human.“
Marcia Bjornerud, Professor of Geosciences Lawrence University
„Congratulations! This has been a long, amazing and now fully realized adventure which certainly gives a new dimension to the Anthropocene and to time… it will be great for all the AWG members to see, as a reminder of our own (not always as beautifully drawn) adventure… „ Jan Zalasiewicz, Geology, University of Leicester, Chair of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) from 2009-2020
„Wunderbar! Now that is how to finish a Friday. Not enough science has such fun things as this attached to it, we are very lucky.“
Simon Turner, Geography, University College London, Secretary of AWG
“The artistry is terrific, the message is important, a real tour de force.” Jaia Syvitsky, Geology & Oceanography, University of Colorado, Boulder; member of AWG
„Thank you so much for this ebook! Just in time for my geochronology class which will start soon. I am planning a lecture on Anthropocene and thanks to this ebook I see that it can be a fun lecture. Just perfect timing and fun approach to time, geological time and our time as AWG.
Irka Hajdas , Geochronologist, ETH Zurich; member of AWG
„Magnificent graphic novel about the Anthropocene! I am a big fan of comic books and very excited to see all of us of the AWG as comic book characters. Very well done!“
Alejandro Cearreta, Palaeontologist, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao; member of AWG
„This is wonderful. It is important to see how the process [of the Anthropocene] unfolded.“
Francine McCarthy, Micropaleontologist, Brock University, St. Catharines; member of AWG
PRESS
︎Tagesspiegel Oct 8th, 2023
︎read article on the platform of Freie Universtät Berlin
︎english Version
March 5, 2024: The formalization of the Anthropocene has been rejected by the Subcommission of Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), part of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) ︎read article
April 18, 2024: Answer to the rejection of the Anthropocene Working Group:
︎What Myths About the Anthropocene Get Wrong
next︎