The first, informally named “conceptual speed-dating,” consisted of two circles of seated participants, who, facing each other, were instructed to agree on a provisional definition for a given term. As each new term was presented, the outer circle was asked to rotate clockwise so that each member was facing someone new for three minutes to discuss and write down the definition of the term. The exercise was crucial for reflecting on the use of terms, such as Earth, world, planet, forensics, and evidence, in scientific/political/legal forums.

In a mapping workshop, participants attempted to identify and trace a series of geo-political lines across the globe. Mapping, as well as the architectural practice of drawing, brought complex narratives, scales, and multiple agents into each project. Two notable projects came about from the seminar.

The geo-politics of the satellite Technosphere

Since the Space Age, geo-politics has expanded into outer space. The tension this has created relates on the one hand to sovereignty and for what purposes space is used, e.g. whether military, civil, or commercial satellites, and on the other hand the notion of outer space as a commons “for all mankind” and the subsequent pollution and production of space debris that has endangered this domain. By using the concept of the technosphere as theorized by Peter Haff and Jan Zalasiewicz, the written and visual work produced by seminar delegates mapped out the tensions of a “satellite technosphere” with its connections to geo-politics. Both the so-called space nations that are located primarily in the industrial North, and the launching facilities located near the equator, seen highlighted on a world map, are supplemented by an image of the Earth around which satellites and space debris are marked distinctively. In this sense, the technosphere is both the result of geo-politics among humans and its material consequence; together these create new challenges for legislation and regulation of space as a commons that could, plausibly, outlast human society itself. Visualizing the contributions to space debris orbiting the planet is a first step toward asking questions about a satellite’s chain of production on Earth, the waste generated through assembly, and the regulations that control the use of outer space. While it is too early to speak of a “tragedy of the commons” for outer space, we are in a position to study the “scramble for outer space” as the major space nations carve up the remaining orbital positions between them.

Anthropocene Insurance Corporation

Who knows more about risk than an insurance company does? And who knows more about insurance companies than reinsurance companies do? This is the starting point for the fictional “could-soon-be-reality” Anthropocene Insurance Corporation. Reinsurance is a massive global industry, capitalized to the sum of hundreds of billions of dollars, and led by firms like Willis, Berkshire Hathaway, Munich Re, and Swiss Re. Property-casualty insurers underwrite losses caused by the world’s natural disasters and accidents—from seasonal flooding to accidents involving automobiles. Reinsurance companies provide coverage to the insurance companies themselves, providing a basis of security, as well as an emerging investment market for those who would like to “take a chance” on disaster. For example, take the new market in catastrophe bonds (CAT bonds). If it happens to be a year with few catastrophes, then the insurance industry makes a profit, and the bonds pay off. If something like Hurricane Katrina hits that year, however, the investor makes a loss. The Anthropocene Insurance Corporation (AIC) takes as its starting point the reinsurance industry of today, and imagines where it might be at some point in the not-too-distant future—a time when the causes and effects of climate change bring the Anthropocene into sharp geo-political focus. Zones of risk spill across national boundaries in ways that defy national-level climate solutions; they place multinational corporations in a unique position of “problem-solving.” To put it bluntly: investors tend to come from the center of global finance (mostly in the global North), while the most lucrative risk is in areas where climate change is predicted to soon put nations, insurance companies, farmers, and individual citizens on the knife edge of economic and personal survival (often the global South). The most promising products include drought insurance, CAT bonds, “immigration insurance” (offering back-up in case climate change causes flooding or drought that leads to mass migration of populations from neighboring geographies into your own country), and wildfire catastrophe insurance. The AIC sees “Drought Opportunity Zones” where other insurance companies might see crop failures. Where some insurers see rising sea levels, we see submerged (but still valuable) properties—people who need a little extra coverage to make sure they stay above water for one more year. The Anthropocene will be bad for many, but not for all. If our predictions are right (based on real, current, publicly accessible science and maps from 2015) you may be requiring a little extra (insurance) cover yourself sometime soon: the AIC is “Monetizing Tomorrow’s Risks Today.”