In 2011, Nobel laureates concluded that the term “Anthropocene” could be a useful way to describe and summarize the situation in which we find ourselves. The journal Nature has also proposed it as a convenient means by which to integrate and make sense of information about what is happening on our planet.
We currently live in the Phanerozoic eon, which began more than 500 million years ago, when the first crawling creatures appeared on the planet. Further, within this eon, we are in the Cenozoic era, which began about 65 million years ago, when most of life on Earth, including dinosaurs, became extinct and mammals became the rulers of the planet. Then, within the Cenozoic, we live during the Quaternary period, which has lasted for 2.5 million years and is associated with the bipolar glaciation of the planet. The last 11.5 thousand years are usually called the Holocene, which received official recognition only five years ago.
By the end of the 20th century, the world’s population exceeded 6 billion people, which is five times more than a hundred years earlier. Everyone needs to live somewhere, eat something, work as someone, travel around cities and villages, and travel. Ensuring the life processes of so many people has affected the production spheres: almost all of the Earth’s resources are now subordinated to humans. This is what characterizes the era, which is designated by the word Anthropocene (from the other Greek “anthropos” – man, and “cene” – new, recent) – there are no places and things left on the planet that have not been touched by the hand of man. Human habitats are no longer just land masses, and even the vast and terrifying space in 50 years can be booked for a short weekend getaway.
The term “Anthropocene” was coined to describe an era in which humans have become the primary driver of environmental change. When we talk about the Anthropocene, we first of all remember the environmental situation: pollution of the oceans and air, deforestation, extermination and extinction of plant and animal species and, of course, general depletion of resources.
The term “Anthropocene”, coined by the American biologist Eugene F. Stormer, became widespread in the early 2000s thanks to the Dutch scientist and Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Paul Crutzen. Today it appears in the headlines of about a hundred scientific publications and articles and is increasingly used in the media. Already now you can find several thousand quotes with him. This neologism describes an era in which human activity has reached such a high level that it has caused biogeophysical changes on a planetary scale. In particular, Stormer and Crutzen noted that, as a result of anthropogenic impacts, the Earth began to move out of the relative equilibrium in which it was in the Holocene era, which began 11,700 years ago. They proposed to consider 1784 as the conditional starting point of the new era, when Scottish engineer James Watt’s improvement of Newman’s steam engine made it possible to use fossil fuels and marked the beginning of the industrial revolution.
Between 1987 and 2015, a large-scale interdisciplinary project, the International Geosphere and Biosphere Program (IGBP), collected numerous data confirming changes in the parameters of the planet as a result of human impact. In addition, research projects began in the early 1950s to study Antarctic multi-year ice and analyze the composition of the atmosphere at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. These two studies revealed an increase in the rate of accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2). In 1987, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created to assess the impact of these phenomena on climate.
Based on the data obtained, in 2009, a group of scientists led by Johan Rockström (Sweden) and Will Steffen (USA) from the Stockholm Resilience Center identified nine “planetary boundaries” – critical values, exceeding which can make the Earth unsuitable for life. a habitat. These two studies revealed an increase in the rate of accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2). In 1987, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created to assess the impact of these phenomena on climate.
Based on the data obtained, in 2009, a group of scientists led by Johan Rockström (Sweden) and Will Steffen (USA) from the Stockholm Resilience Center identified nine “planetary boundaries” – critical values, exceeding which can make the Earth unsuitable for life. a habitat.
Such development trends are considered not only unacceptable, but also extremely dangerous.Why is there a reluctance to admit the obvious? There are several reasons for this. Firstly, there is a blind faith in progress and development or, in other words, in the ability of humanity to endlessly increase the amount of available resources, as well as a deep conviction that science and technology can solve all problems and save us from the negative consequences of development, such as pollution, etc. Secondly, intense lobbying by powerful stakeholders who benefit from this development plays an important role. Finally, it is worth noting the “capture” of public consciousness by the media, which evoke an insatiable thirst for individual consumption in order to increase comfort, gain recognition from others, or stand out from the crowd.