The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature

Abstract

We explore the development of the Anthropocene, the current epoch in which humans and our societies have become a global geophysical force. The Anthropocene began around 1800 with the onset of industrialization, the central feature of which was the enormous expansion in the use of fossil fuels. We use atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration as a single, simple indicator to track the progression of the Anthropocene. From a preindustrial value of 270-275 ppm, atmospheric carbon dioxide had risen to about 310 ppm by 1950. Since then the human enterprise has experienced a remarkable explosion, the Great Acceleration, with significant consequences for Earth System functioning. Atmospheric CO2 concentration has risen from 310 to 380 ppm since 1950, with about half of the total rise since the preindustrial era occurring in just the last 30 years. The Great Acceleration is reaching criticality. Whatever unfolds, the next few decades will surely be a tipping point in the evolution of the Anthropocene.

A safe operating space for humanity

“…The Earth has entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene, where humans constitute the dominant driver of change to the Earth System i (Crutzen 2002;Steffen et al 2007). The exponential growth of human activities is raising concern that further pressure on the Earth System could destabilise critical biophysical systems and trigger abrupt or irreversible environmental changes that would be deleterious or even catastrophic for human well-being.…”

“…At the same time, marked changes in regional system dynamics have occurred over that period. Although the imprint of early human activities can sometimes be seen at the regional scale (e.g., altered fire regimes, megafauna extinctions), there is no clear evidence that humans have affected the functioning of the Earth System at the global scale until very recently (Steffen et al 2007). However, since the industrial revolution (the advent of the Anthropocene), humans are effectively pushing the planet outside the Holocene range of variability for many key Earth System processes (Steffen et al 2004).…”

Tipping Toward Sustainability: Emerging Pathways of Transformation

“…As a result of the foregoing three trends, there is a rising frequency of threshold behavior in these key systems. It is plausible that current development paradigms and patterns, if continued, would tip the integrated humanearth system into a radically different basin of attraction (Steffen et al 2007).…”

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

“…The expansion in particular since the 1950s, which predominantly benefitted the industrialized world, has pushed humanity into a new geological era, the Anthropocene, and generated the bulk of the global environmental changes with potential thresholds and tipping points, currently challenging the future wellbeing of the human population on Earth (Steffen et al 2007;Rockström et al 2009). Now, new accelerations are occurring.…”