Into the Anthropocene
The way modern humanity interacts with its environment is often called ‘anthropocentric’: placing people above planet, in effect. But now this attitude appears to have altered the land itself, to the extent that our current epoch is increasingly considered man-made.
The Anthropocene is a theorised time period, beginning with the first geologically significant impacts of humans on Earth’s ecosystems. It defines our current time period as part of an unnatural progression, unlike previous stretches, deeming climate change and the rapid degradation of biodiversity the direct result of human activity.
Earth’s geological history is recorded along an official timeline, divided by significant changes to the climate and environment found in rocks and fossils. The scientific committee working to prove this theory, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), say the mid-1950s saw civilisation affect the natural world through major technological advancements, such as nuclear weaponry and the post-World War II production boom, which neatly coincided with a mass population increase; both fueling the rise of rampant consumerism in the West. Members of the AWG propose this decade as the official ‘start’ to what they term the Age of Acceleration, as it’s the speed of environmental change that signals a worrying disturbance of ecological norms. Apart from the occasional disastrous asteroid, most time periods span anything between tens of thousands to millions of years. According to these studies, however, we’ve very suddenly shifted out of our previous—what’s generally considered the current—period, the Holocene, which dates from around 10,000 years ago.
Why does this matter? Well, if our actions have triggered a new climatological age within half a century, it seems we’d better start changing tack – and quickly. We have hijacked the Earth and disregarded its natural cycles to suit our own ends, exploiting the ecosystem rather than acting as carers. What this has meant in practice is a worrying paradigm shift away from the natural order into an age of artifice; of uncompromising human supremacy over the planet. And what exactly are we ‘progressing’ into? We’re living in the midst of great change, from the known, to the terrifyingly unpredictable.
As outlined by AWG members, there is a distinction between the Age of Acceleration and earlier humans who influenced their environment, as seen up to 10,000 years ago with the indigenous Amazonians. The practices of this and similar past civilisations may have altered the natural landscape, but they operated largely in harmony with its cycles to support their communities. They cultivated sustainable crops, created nutrient-rich soils, and even enhanced wildlife in some cases. This allowed them to live well while nature thrived. It’s nothing like the dramatic transformation occurring now, and, crucially, didn’t catapult us into a new and dangerous climate that threatens all life. So, objectively preferable (surely).
It’s important to make this shift from Then to Now clear in the ongoing effort to establish the Anthropocene as fact, because it will highlight not only the need to reverse our current course, but our ability to do so. Researchers are responding to this task with an intense search for our modern human footprint in geological form to firm up their case—such as in nuclear debris or mercury pollution—and in time to make it count.
By officially recognising this new age, we can figure out what we’re doing wrong now and what went right in the past, for example, by studying which farming practices continued for several thousand years versus those which have degraded the land in mere decades. If archaeological findings can prove our entry-point into the Anthropocene, we’ll better understand how to proceed – or, what not to do, basically; readopting ancestral wisdom as our guide to creating a sustainable future.
