The Earth is a non-human archive. Traces of synergetic design processes are inscribed into its surface. Its autopoietic images are made visible through climate change and extreme weather phenomena.
As it seems the Earth can no longer be thought without mankind since many changes are already irreversible. What if thinking mankind without the Earth doesn't make sense either? The planet Earth isn't just a passive playground for humans to act upon, but rather it's the main actor in a comprehensive and dynamic ecosystem. Therefore, environmental disasters, extreme weather and in general climate change phenomena become perceptible indicators for profound system changes and witnesses of preceding processes at the same time.
We propose a notion of the Earth as a living and ever-changing archive. Accelerated by human influence, effects of climate change reveal human design activities on larger scale that were inscribed and are not visible anymore.
Altogether, we are interested in the man-made climate change as a medium of indication. As a process of materialisation it visualises societal interventions on and against the Earth and its inhabitants through nature itself. The man-accelerated ecological processes, thus, become a method of post-human design. Without explicit human intention, effects of climate change reveal the evenly unintentional archival processes of human cultural activities of the Earth. A geo-epistemic serendipity which implies non-human distinction processes that are too sensitive for a human understanding of the world.
Planetary diagrams reframe the planet not as a passive backdrop for human representation, but as an active archive: geological strata, atmospheric flows, and ecosystem shifts become traces to be read. They merge the abstract, data-influenced mode of diagrams with the vast temporal and spatial scales of planetary processes, making imperceptible environmental changes visible and intelligible. In doing so, planetary diagrams invite a post-anthropocentric visual culture in which Earth becomes a collaborator rather than an object of representation.
The glossary entry by Paul Heinicker is part of a collection Environmental humanities: Emergent key terms, alongside contributions from prominent voices such as Donna Haraway, Jussi Parikka and Olafur Eliasson.
