The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives

Abstract

The human imprint on the global environment has now become so large and active that it rivals some of the great forces of Nature in its impact on the functioning of the Earth system. Although global-scale human influence on the environment has been recognized since the 1800s, the term Anthropocene , introduced about a decade ago, has only recently become widely, but informally, used in the global change research community. However, the term has yet to be accepted formally as a new geological epoch or era in Earth history. In this paper, we put forward the case for formally recognizing the Anthropocene as a new epoch in Earth history, arguing that the advent of the Industrial Revolution around 1800 provides a logical start date for the new epoch. We then explore recent trends in the evolution of the Anthropocene as humanity proceeds into the twenty-first century, focusing on the profound changes to our relationship with the rest of the living world and on early attempts and proposals for managing our relationship with the large geophysical cycles that drive the Earth’s climate system.

The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time?

“…The opening paper of this issue by Steffen et al [13] (the authorship including the architect of the term 'Anthropocene', Paul Crutzen) provides historical context to the Anthropocene concept, and examines the rapidly evolving-indeed, accelerating-trends in many global environmental signals, from resource use on land to patterns of oceanic and atmospheric chemistry. The authors stress recent human innovations-for instance, the startling advances in genomics that may profoundly impact on the future evolution of the biosphere.…”

Water security, global change and land–atmosphere feedbacks

“…These drivers of global change have received global attention through initiatives equal in scope and in profile to the IPCC [38][39][40], including the United Nations Environment Programme GEO-5 Assessment [41], the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) [42] and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme [35]. The emphasis on joint drivers of change in different spheres of the Earth system has prompted calls for multi-and interdisciplinary evaluations of the joint, interacting effects of changes in components of the Earth system [43][44][45][46].…”

Biology in the Anthropocene: Challenges and insights from young fossil records

“…The Anthropocene is an informal term that is gaining wide currency for the present epoch of Earth's history, when humans dominate a majority of natural processes globally (1,2). The biological effects of climate change receive the greatest attention (3-6): secular warming, ocean acidification, and novel precipitation patterns are now pervasive (7,8) (Fig.…”