ANTHROPOCENE

 

Let me introduce you to a new term which I picked up recently – ANTHROPOCENE. The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch (era or period) dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, climate change. The word Anthropocene is derived from the Greek words anthropo, for “man,” and cene for “new,” coined and made popular by biologist Eugene Stormer and chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000. The Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth's history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet's climate and ecosystems.

 

Earth’s history is divided into a hierarchical series of smaller chunks of time, referred to as the geologic time scale. These divisions, in descending length of time, are called eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages. These units are classified based on Earth’s rock layers, or strata, and the fossils found within them. From examining these fossils, scientists know that certain organisms are characteristic of certain parts of the geologic record. The study of this correlation is called ‘stratigraphy’. 

 

Officially, the current epoch is called the Holocene, which began 11,700 years ago after the last major ice age. However, the Anthropocene Epoch is an unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems.

 

The effect that we humans are having on the planet we live in has made us a geological force to reckon with. Anthropocene is a proposed geologic epoch that describes humanity as a significant or even dominant geophysical force. Not all people in the planet can be held equally responsible and the developed and affluent West has to shoulder the major chunk of the blame.

 

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and modern humans have been around for around a mere 200,000 years. Yet in that time we have fundamentally altered the physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet on which we and all other organisms depend. In the past 60 years in particular, these human impacts have unfolded at an unprecedented rate and scale. This period is sometimes known as the Great Acceleration. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, extinction and wide scale natural resource extractions are all signs that we have significantly modified our planet.

 

Plastic could become a key marker of the Anthropocene. Earth is now awash with plastic - millions of tons are produced every year. Because plastic doesn’t biodegrade, it ends up littering soils and ocean beds. Every plastic toothbrush ever made in this world whether in use or thrown away, still exists in this world. Contrary to this, mass extinction is happening frighteningly quickly among both flora and fauna and species are becoming extinct at a significantly faster rate than they have for millions of years before.

 

Anthropogenic impact on the planet was forecast by Mahatma Gandhi way back in 1928 when he said "God forbid that India should ever take to industrialist after the manner of the West. If an entire nation of 300 million took to similar exploration, it would strip the world bare like locust." How right he was! Today our carbon footprints are threatening our existence and our planet. Our contemporary history has demonstrated our reckless industrial civilization is nothing but a delusion which will affect the lives of our children and grandchildren. 

 

Industrial revolution has surely improved our quality of life but this very extractive practice is simply unsustainable in the long run. The havoc of climate change from melting of the polar ice cap to the forest fires, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes and cyclones are all attributed to the anthropogenic impact we have had on the planet. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) dedicated an entire journal issue to the Anthropocene (UNESCO 2018), while many of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goals (2016-present) are built around key Anthropocenic concerns, such as global emissions, ecosystem damage, and over-reliance on fossil fuels.