The Anthropocene, “The Age Of The Human,” (Purdy, Pg 1.),

Anthropocene is a term used to describe earth’s history including when humans dominated a majority of natural processes globally. Anthropocence was a term used throughout the article to discuss the impact humankind had on the environment that caused many changes that had a negative impact over many years. Another term used was anthrones, the human footprint, which describes how much human kind has made lasting impassions on the earth. These terms have made me come to the realization anthropology operates at the crossroads of social and physical sciences, along with humanities to examine the diversity of humankind across many cultures and time.

In “The Changing Nature of Nature: Environmental Politics in the Anthropocene” environmental politician Paul Wapner depicts the human impacts on nature, and their significant intervention in ecosystem dynamics. His research outlines the “end of nature” (Wapner, 37) and aims to put emphasis on the beginning of the Anthropocene, suggesting that we are finally realizing that nature is not merely a material object. With this in mind, Wapner argues that the ways in which we protect nature should be significantly different, this, justifying his study. In order to form an argument, Wapner begins by summarizing a general piece of academic research, and through this is then able to provide an organized overview of the logic of his argument. The alternation

The moment the earth was made was when history was first conceived. The introduction tells us about the making of planet Earth, which sets up the scene for the arrival of the Foragers. The history of man consists of three primary eras: the Era

On Friday the first of December, I attended a workshop put on by the history department titled Crossing Boundaries in Environmental History. This was a panel of students reflecting on the essay “Who is the ‘We’ Endangered by Climate Change?” written by Julia Adeney Thomas (which had been presented on the day before) and relating it to their own work and specific areas of study. Thomas’s paper discussed the Anthropocene with and without historical context, and, more specifically, a case study of the environmentalism within a (previously) closed off Japan. The first of three panelists to present, PhD candidate David Patterson, tied Thomas’ work to 9th century definitions of climate and how (and if) they noticed and recorded climate change. Second

The environmental history novel Eaarth, written by Bill McKibben, illustrates the history of global warming and the pressuring impact that climate change currently has on society. For centuries, we, human beings, have continued to stain the purity of nature with our fingerprints. The continuous manipulation of the environment overtime has altered our planet so significantly that McKibben believes we have created a new planet. Rather than “Earth”, its scientific name, McKibben refers to it as “Eaarth”—in honor of its new characteristics. In the Preface, McKibben states, “Instead of a world where rain had an independent

Has Earth entered into a new geologic epoch, characterized by human influences? A recent study, spear-headed by the British Geological Survey, has come to the conclusion that man’s global impact has become distinct enough to end the Holocene and effectively begin the Anthropocene. Published in Science, the study identifies how man’s impact on our oceans, resources, climate, and vegetation has altered the sedimentary makeup of the planet. Massive species invasions, increased rates of extinction, genetically modified plants, redistributed metals, sediment, hydrocarbons, fossils, increased levels of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus all combine to create signals that geologists interpret to denote a break in the Holocene

Our relationship with nature has currently become strictly economic. we tend to don't associate ourselves as a section of nature as a result of we tend to use it for profit. Forests ar abate for the profits of the lumber trade and to form area for placental mammal. Animals that we tend to ar doubtless associated with, that have senses and therefore the ability to socialize ar slaughtered by the billions to feed Associate in Nursing more and more carnivorous population. Resources like oil and food ar all erratically distributed throughout the globe and thus used as a platform for profit. All the whereas the surroundings bears the grunt of our

The Mesozoic era was the age of dinosaurs, but also consisted of birds and mammals. The final era is Cenozoic, which is the time period in which the mammals began to evolve, and populate the Earth, also sea life evolved. The geologic time scale gives us a clue of how Earth has developed. Earth started out with just single cell organisms and branched out to all types of multi-cell organisms that are both terrestrial and

11,700 years ago the geological epoch the Holocene was thought to of began following the Pleistocene epoch, together these time periods make up the Quaternary period. The Holocene has been described as being relatively warm and with a fairly stable climate. Not only this, but it is thought to coincide with the start of agriculture as human populations rose throughout the Holocene technology became more sophisticated aiding the rise of agriculture (Holden, 2012). The early anthropogenic hypothesis was published in 2003 by Professor W.F. Ruddiman, this was a three part hypothesis in which Ruddiman proposed humans reversed natural decreases in CO2 values within the atmosphere by deforestation. That they reversed natural methane decreases after 5,000 years by irrigating rice, they also caused a warming sufficient to prevent a new glaciation within the last several thousand years and during the Holocene (Ruddiman 2005). This hypothesis has attracted a lot of attention with many people both supporting it and criticising it. Throughout this essay I will be exploring the many arguments for and against the early anthropogenic hypothesis and stating whether or not human kind could have prevented the start of an ice age during the Holocene.

Some contend that the Anthropocene started with the appearance of agriculture, in light of the fact that specific horticulture related activities, for example, rice paddy water system and deforestation may have prompted sharp ascents in convergences of CO2 and methane as ahead of schedule as 8,000 years prior. Many trust that it was not until the Industrial Revolution that our abuse of fossil fuels and monumental increases of energy utilize and populace began to push us sufficiently far to demonstrate a recognizable human impact.

Many people have even become extremely proficient in dealing with them. However, being able to deal in large numbers and understanding what they truly mean are two entirely different things. Human being experience an extreme cognitive dissonance between the two. The difference between 1,000,000,000 and 100,000,000 years may not look like much to the average person’s eye, but that difference is the difference between running a marathon, something a human being can reasonably accomplish in a day, to running from Stony Brook to Rochester, something which would take days to accomplish. The difference between a million seconds and a billion seconds is almost 32 years. Our place in the history of the planet, and the Anthropocene’s context in our own history can only really be understood in the context of extremely large numbers. Through a better understanding of large numbers and the geological timescale, the

Finney and Edwards raise concerns over this component of the Anthropocene. The emphasis on the beginning of the Anthropocene ignores the geological strata, which is a major component to its validity as an official epoch. According to Finney and Edwards, the Anthropocene overly emphasizes the beginning of this potential epoch, not its contents. The focus on the start leads to “the opinion that geological time scales are defined solely by their beginnings” (Finney and Edwards, 7). According to the AWG, the suggested start for the Anthropocene is 1945 (Finney and Edwards, 7). An indicator for this date is “the human human-caused atomic detonations” that resulted in the spread of atomic radiation across the planet (Zalasiewicz et al., 2230). In defining the Anthropocene based on its cause and date, and using the definition as grounds for justification as a geological time unit is where Finney and Edwards find fault. Also, the core of the concept centers at being a human caused event, which can be used to socially and politically sway

Anthropocene is a time period where the “effects of the humans on the global environment have escalated” (Crutzen 23). The Earth is no longer in its natural state but is “moving into a less biologically diverse, less forested, much warmer, and probably wetter and stormier state” (Steffen 614).

Since before the industrial evolutions humans have been pumping green house gasses—carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons— into the atmosphere however, it wasn’t until recently that the amounts being produced are shoving the Earth into a sixth extinction. While the causes of this upcoming extinction are constantly debated on it has earned itself the name Holocene extinction. This name is derived from the theory that humans are the main contributors to this extinction. To investigate the cause Elizabeth Kolbert, and American journalist and professor at Williams College, took the world on a wild and saddening journey on the human contribution to this looming extinction in her novel, The Sixth Extinction; An Unnatural History. Not only does Kolbert’s book explain how humans have contributed to global warming and its effects on life on land but also ocean acidification and how life under the sea has changed over the years.

Climate change and drastic effects go hand in hand when it comes to evaluating aspects of the Anthropocene. Literary forms such as tragedy, comedy, and elegy play an influential role in the discussion of these subjects, shaping the way they are interpreted and comprehended. In J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World, the use of these literary forms frame the ideas of how climate change affects a future Earth and what that means for humanity. Furthermore, this work manifests different emerging trends of the Anthropocene such as terraforming, biotechnological de-extinction, and cosmopolitanism to portray an altered world.