Yale environment 360
\n24 Jan 2011: Opinion
\nLiving in the Anthropocene:
\nToward a New Global Ethos
\nA decade ago, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen first suggested we were living in the \u201cAnthropocene,\u201d a new geological epoch in which humans had altered the planet. Now, in an article for Yale Environment 360, Crutzen and a coauthor explain why adopting this term could help transform the perception of our role as stewards of the Earth.
\nby paul j. crutzen and christian schw\u00e4gerl<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a pity we\u2019re still officially living in an age called the Holocene. The Anthropocene \u2014 human dominance of biological, chemical and geological processes on Earth \u2014 is already an undeniable reality. Evidence is mounting that the name change suggested by one of us more than ten years ago is overdue. It may still take some time for the scientific body in charge of naming big stretches of time in Earth\u2019s history, the International Commission on Stratigraphy, to make up its mind about this name change. But that shouldn\u2019t stop us from seeing and learning what it means to live in this new Anthropocene epoch, on a planet that is being anthroposized at high speed.<\/p>\n
For millennia, humans have behaved as rebels against a superpower we call \u201cNature.\u201d In the 20th century, however, new technologies, fossil fuels, and a fast-growing population resulted in a \u201cGreat Acceleration\u201d of our own powers. Albeit clumsily, we are taking control of Nature\u2019s realm, from climate to DNA. We humans are becoming the dominant force for change on Earth. A long-held religious and philosophical idea \u2014 humans as the masters of planet Earth \u2014 has turned into a stark reality. What we do now already affects the planet of the year 3000 or even 50,000.<\/p>\n
Changing the climate for millennia to come is just one aspect. By cutting down rainforests, moving mountains to access coal deposits and acidifying coral reefs, we fundamentally change the biology and the geology of the planet. While driving uncountable numbers of species to extinction, we create new life forms through gene technology, and, soon, through synthetic biology. …more<\/a><\/p>\n