The term Anthropocene refers to a geological epoch in which human activity is the dominant force shaping Earth’s climate, environment, and ecosystems. It is an increasingly grim subject in an era in which wildfires, unseasonable storms, and global warming are changing the way the Earth looks and the way life feels.

In 1950 when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm, William Faulkner gave a very uplifting speech:

I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

In my opinion, Faulkner was being altogether too optimistic. In 1950, humans were not yet slaves to the smartphone and social media; and recreational drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, heroine, PCP, and fentanyl were nowhere near as prevalent as they are today. What I find particularly grim is that people no longer read books (unless they are dinosaurs like me).

Because of climate change and the preponderance of dysfunctional nations, large masses of people are migrating beyond their borders and stressing the economies and politics of hitherto prosperous countries such as the United States, England, and Germany. Donald Trump is not an isolated phenomenon: Possibly he is a portent of things to come. (Perish the thought!)