As part of a special symposium by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, Joan Kjaer and her WorldCanvass guests explored the topic of "Energy Cultures and the Age of the Anthropocene" on March 3, 2015 at FilmScene in Iowa City. The program was followed by a free screening of the documentary, “The Great Invisible,” about the social and environmental effects of the Deepwater/Horizon/Macondo disaster and oil spill in 2010.

We are now living in the “Anthropocene” (pronounced AN-thruh-puh-seen), the literal definition of which is the “New Age (cene) of Humans (anthropos).” For many people, the notion that we are living in the age of humans might be unremarkably self-evident. But the concept of the Anthropocene challenges us to consider how humans have become the dominant agent of change on Earth. The upcoming Obermann Humanities Symposium at the University of Iowa, March 5-7, “Energy Cultures in the Age of the Anthropocene,” will showcase innovative thinking about how to conceptualize and deal with the large-scale human alterations of environments and ecosystems that have given a new name to the age in which we live.

The March 3 WorldCanvass program will be part of a three-day interdisciplinary Obermann Center symposium on the Anthropocene which will examine how humans have shaped our present energy culture and what other energy cultures are possible. Four keynote speakers will tackle this question from very different angles.

Host Joan Kjaer and her guests on the next WorldCanvass will explore the age of the Anthropocene through the lens of energy, investigating the global environmental transformation effected by humans’ astonishing technological achievements in the search for greater creature comfort. WorldCanvass begins at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at FilmScene, 118 East College Street. Admission is free and open to the public.