To the Ends of the Earth Unfrozen

In To the Ends of the Earth: A Grand Tour for the 21st Century, Richard Weller, Professor Emeritus and Co-Founder of the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism & Ecology at the University of Pennsylvania, has condensed a sprawling subject into a compact field guide to 120 of the most significant 21st century objects, from bulldozers to Biosphere II. Call it dystopian, call it optimistic. Just don’t call it “anthroporn.”

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Intro/Outro: “Until the End of the World,” by U2

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Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World, by Timothy Morton

Utopias (and Utopia’s Evil Twins)

                  Welwyn Garden City

                  Chandigarh

                  Burning Man

                  EPCOT

                  Pruitt-Igoe

                  Walmart
Supercenter

Machines:

Bulldozers + polymetric nodules

Fish farms

Solar arrays

Sand motor + littoral drift

Tree-planting drones

Monsters:

                  Geo-engineering

The World Park Project / UN Convention on Biological Diversity

Y2Y

Banff Wildlife Crossings Project

The Atlas for the End of the World