Resources

Research for a future we want to live in

Starting Dates

When has the Anthropocene begun?

Starting dates of the Anthropocene induced an extremely diverse discussion across academic disciplines, from the natural sciences to history, sociology and politics. This discussion centres on the questions of when the human impact on the Earth system, and especially on geological processes, started to be significant and...

Stratigraphy

The geological subdiscipline of stratigraphy

The geological subdiscipline of stratigraphy is asked to define the Anthropocene as a new unit of Earth history. Stratigraphy deals with geological layers and beds, with the law of superposition (older layers were deposited below younger ones). A definition for the base of a formally defined Anthropocene as a unit of the...

Climate change

Climate Change is a key issue in the Anthropocene

Climate Change is a key issue in the Anthropocene and helps illustrating what it means that humans have become a “geophysical force” and a “geological agent” in our time (see Anthropos). Anthropogenic climate change was what Paul Crutzen had in mind, more than anything else, when he proposed the term “Anthropocene” back in the year...

Technosphere

The technosphere is the realm of technology

Machines, factories, computers, cars, buildings, the railway, all mobility infrastructure etcetera. Today, we use technology to produce food, to extract material resources, to convert and distribute energy so it can be used in society, to enable other than mere face-to-face communication, and for many other purposes. The…

Risk

The Anthropocene is an era of rapidly changing risks

At first glance, this may look like nothing new under the sun. Theorists of “risk society”, like Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck, have described preoccupation with the future as one of the trademarks of “reflexive modernity”. The notion of risk is a common way of assessing the likelihood of a certain outcome of our future actions...

Anthropos

How do we frame humanity in the Anthropocene?

Understanding humans as a geological agent does not mean to eliminate the differences within humankind – the differences of gender, race, affluence, health, including the inequalities in the access to technology, life styles and forms of consumption. It also does not imply a new Anthropocentrism. On the contrary, it...

The Planetary

In the Anthropocene human beings are altering earth collectively

Of course, there are differences: some are making a much greater impact than others (ecological footprint). But as the “human web” (John & William McNeill) spans around the globe, the sum of...

Deep time

What is deep time?

Deep time and its interference with human time are a key issue in the Anthropocene. What is deep time? And how do we interfere with it today in ways that are characteristic of the Anthropocene? In the history of science, deep time is a relatively recent...

Governance

What is its political potential?

While the Anthropocene is a well-established scientific category, what is its political potential? Outside academic circles the Anthropocene is only beginning to enter public consciousness. The circle of politicians familiar with the idea...