411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Ecozoic
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
English
Etymology
en Thomas Berry clergyman and scholar the early 1980s 1,https://thomasberry.org/life-and-thought/about-thomas-berry/the-ecozoic-era/ The Ecozoic Era Thomas Berry and the Great Work https://web.archive.org/web/20260607202614/https://thomasberry.org/life-and-thought/about-thomas-berry/the-ecozoic-era/ 7 June 2026 from en eco- -zoic; compare en Cenozoic, en Mesozoic, en Paleozoic.
Adjective
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en geology Of or pertaining to the hypothesised Ecozoic era.
en The Ecozoic Era can be brought into being only by the integral life community itself. If other periods have been designated by such names as "Reptilian" or "Mammalian," this Ecozoic period must be identified as the Era of the Integral Life Community. 360 1997 w:Thomas Berry The Ecozoic Era Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology Glenn Adelson; et al. Yale University Press 2008 https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Environment/_Cy9xMIoCdUC
Proper noun
A geologic era, beginning in the late twentieth century, in which humans would be guided by ecological concerns and would behave in a less exploitative way toward the environment.
en Here we argue that the Ecozoic requires new approaches and new textbooks to tell a different story that more accurately reflects both new and old understandings of interconnectedness; engages with conceptualizations of the human and of being; reaffirms and celebrates other ways of knowing; and emphasizes our embeddedness in nature while building greater respect for the species alongside which we have co-evolved over the vast space of evolutionary time. 2–3 Ivan Vargas Roncancio; et al. From the Anthropocene to Mutual Thriving: An Agenda for Higher Education in the Ecozoic Sustainability 11 12 2019 10.3390/su11123312
Usage notes
The term has not been adopted in the official geological nomenclature. Used as an alternative to "Anthropocene".Crist Eileen On the Poverty of Our Nomenclature Environmental Humanities 3 1 2013 142–3 The Anthropocene? Such is the poverty of our nomenclature to bow once more before the tedious showcasing of Man. ... If a new name were called for, then why not have a
conversation or a debate about what it should be, instead of being foisted (for a very long time, I might add) with the Age of Man as the “obvious” choice? ... Indeed, why not choose a name whose higher calling we must rise to meet? We might, for example, opt for ecotheologian Thomas Berry’s proposed “Ecozoic,” which embraces Earth’s integral living community, and invites human history in concert with natural history into uncharted realms of beauty, diversity, abundance, and freedom. 10.1215/22011919-3611266
References