1. Introduction

This chapter introduces the concept of the Ecocene. Offered as an alternative to the Anthropocene, it argues that the new era is largely determined by the way in which ecological processes themselves have come to matter in politics. We live, in other words, in the age of ecology, not the human age. The concept of ecology is developed in terms of the ideas of chance, change, and locality. The chapter attends to the ways in which a conception of Ecocene politics can help an increasing number of social groups to live with tragedy and the increasing loss that will define countless futures.