The Anthropocene
"The Human Epoch"
The Anthropocene is a concept that is gaining widespread currency in academic circles and wider visibility in the media and with the public. While similar terms have existed since the 18th century, the word ‘Anthropocene’ was coined by Nobel prizewinning scientist Paul Crutzen to describe the (still-contested) view that we are living in a new geological era in which humans are altering the planet to such an extent that we are leaving a ubiquitous and permanent mark on the earth’s biological, hydrological, atmospheric, and geological systems. The term argues that interaction of human interventions with the natural world has driven huge changes whereby formerly resilient ecosystems have been significantly altered and degraded.
...can be quantified by a variety of measures (examples are nuclear isotopes in the atmosphere, rising CO2, ice cap melting and ocean acidification). Since the 1950s, humanity has initiated a ‘Great Acceleration’ of the rate of change towards a fundamentally different world from the Holocene (the post Ice Age era which includes the rise of civilisation, the Industrial Revolution and subsequent population explosion). Today, 80% of the world’s population is under the imminent threat of water insecurity and biodiversity loss; over 50% of humanity now lives in cities, and there are no ‘pristine’ environments anywhere on Earth not affected by human intervention.