Title: Overcoming Anthropocentric Bias - The Imperative to Investigate Geological Drivers in Climate Science

Introduction Climate change has emerged as one of the most critical and complex issues of our time, necessitating urgent attention from scientists, policymakers, and society at large. As global temperatures continue to rise and extreme weather events become more frequent, it is essential to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying causes and potential solutions to this crisis. The dominant narrative in climate change research has centered around anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions as the primary driver of these changes, leading to a human-centric perspective on the issue. However, recent evidence from various fields suggests that geological processes such as volcanism may play a more significant role than previously thought. This article aims to synthesize empirical geological evidence, psychological research on egocentric tendencies, and philosophical discourses on anthropocentrism in order to argue for a dramatic shift in climate science priorities towards geological drivers.

Geochemical Evidence of Underestimated Geological CO2 Sources The core theory of anthropogenic global warming revolves around the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations due to human activities such as fossil fuel combustion. However, recent advancements in geochemical sampling and monitoring techniques have revealed that global volcanic CO2 outputs may have been underestimated by orders of magnitude. Improved submarine sensors have detected high concentrations of dissolved volcanic CO2 leaking from previously unaccounted for sea-floor fissures and hydrothermal vents. Integrating these widespread diffuse sources into revised global models could potentially contribute over ten times more CO2 than previous top-down estimates.

Psychological Underpinnings of Anthropocentric Bias The predominance of anthropogenic global warming theory may stem from deeper psychological roots, specifically our innate tendency towards an egocentric perspective. Egocentrism represents the inability to fully separate one’s own perspective from that of others or perceive the world from any viewpoint other than one’s own. Various experiments have demonstrated manifestations of egocentric biases in decision-making, judgments of risk, estimations of personal abilities and likelihood of success compared to others, and interpreting ambiguous information.

Ontological Foundations of Human/Nature Separations The ontological divide between Western scientific traditions and indigenous relational worldviews highlights an even deeper philosophical dimension to the anthropocentric bias dominating climate change research. Descola contrasts the entrenched dualistic naturalism of modern sciences that segregate humanity as the sole source of symbolic interiority while objectifying and taxonomizing the natural world with animistic ontologies that extensionally distribute subjectivities across an innately interrelated continuum between humans and environmental forces/entities.

Reframing Priorities Around Earth System Drivers A recent study published in “Scientific Reports” provides comprehensive estimates on CO2 flux from both eruptive and diffuse volcanic emissions between 2005 and 2017, revealing the significant contribution of volcanoes to global CO2 emissions. The study highlights the complexity and variability in measuring volcanic CO2, pointing out the considerable uncertainty due to limited observational data and the need for more comprehensive monitoring to accurately assess volcanic contributions to atmospheric CO2 levels.

Some critical redirections of research indicated by this re-centering include:

• Volcanic Outgassing Comprehensiveness
• Tectonic Systems Dynamics
• Planetary Heat Engine Quantification
• Exogenous Input Modeling

Conclusion This paper has presented a synthesized, interdisciplinary argument for the necessity of fundamentally reframing the scientific assumptions, philosophical paradigms, and research priorities underlying investigations into climate change drivers. Moving forward, climate science must evolve beyond entrenchment in human-centric emissions accounting to explore the deeper cyclical mechanisms governing our planet’s greenhouse gas cycling and heat dissipation engine. By directly challenging these blinders through empirical re-examinations of underestimated geologic influences, psychological explorations of innate human-centric biases, and ontological philosophical reconfigurations, climate science can be emancipated from its currently constrained anthropocentric paradigm.

References

• Fischer, T.P., Arellano, S., Carn, S. et al. (2019). Comprehensive estimates on CO2 flux from both eruptive and diffuse volcanic emissions between 2005 and 2017. Scientific Reports.
• Descola, P. (2013). Beyond Nature and Culture. University of Chicago Press.

Keywords

• Climate Change
• Anthropocentrism
• Geological Processes
• Volcanism
• Psychological Biases