The Anthropocene: Are We in the Midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction?

As we have seen in Chaps. 1 and 2 of this book, despite being essentially an interdisciplinary field of studies, international relations theory has traditionally been treated as if its main purpose was the study of inter-state relations, not inter-national relations, because the focus of both the realist and the idealist paradigms is power politics and therefore the relationships between peoples, ethnic groups, religions, cultures and the trade and commerce characteristic of the world economy are not usually considered within its classic perspectives. Nonetheless, if we accept that the international system is the appropriate field of studies of the discipline, then it is logical to acknowledge that the different components of the said system are the political, military, economic, social, and cultural subsystems, hence any theory of IR must include not only the political science approach but also the economic, anthropological, cultural and social science standpoints. In other words, a holistic paradigm is necessary in order to generate a satisfactory IR theory. This understanding of the discipline also embraces environmental sciences and ecology as disciplines that contribute to this field of knowledge because the base of sustenance of the international system is the planetary system, the Earth itself. Consequently, all the states, nations, peoples, cultures, religions, transnational corporations and so on exist and operate thanks to the fact that humanity has the planet (Gaia in Lovelock’s perspective) as its “common house”, as Pope Francis calls it in his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’. This explains why the Anthropocene represents much more than a new geological epoch and why its importance is emphasized in these times of great menaces like climate change and health pandemics. Is our species facing the sixth mass extinction of life on the surface of the planet? Do religion and science now coincide in their way of comprehending this marvellous planet that we all inhabit?