The Anthropocene Epoch Humanity Essay - 1384 Words

The Anthropocene Epoch Humanity is confronted by multiple environmental challenges which threaten to undermine the advances in health achieved over recent decades. The Rockefeller Foundation/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health showed how climate change, loss of biodiversity, land use change, ocean acidification and overfishing, nitrogen and phosphorus loading and environmental pollution more generally all have the potential to adversely affect health through a range of pathways1. A recent joint publication by WHO and Convention on Biological Diversity articulated the myriad connections between biodiversity and health and the threats to both posed by environmental change2. The dramatic changes in the global environment have led many scientists to conclude that we are living in a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – in which the activities of one species – homo sapiens -have become the dominant driving force transforming the Earth’s natural systems3. These natural systems provide food, clean water and air and modulate the global temperature within limits in which humanity has been able to flourish for around 11,500 years during the preceding Holocene epoch. The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. AboutShow MoreRelatedThe Nature Of Sustainability : A Human Nature Hybridity Essay1820 Words   |  8 Pagesphilosophy that aims to protect and improve the health of the environment. While humans have accepted this view of environmentalism for living in the Holocene epoch, political environmentalist Paul Wapner proposes a renewed definition of environmentalism that has emerged in the Anthropocene epoch. Wapner sees the Anthropocene as an epoch of human geological influence, where humans have inflicted a signature on the earth leaving it â€Å"independent of human experience† (2). That is to say, humans haveRead MoreEnvironmentalism Is Not A New Concept Essay1809 Words   |   8 PagesIt is a social movement that aims to protect and improve the health of the environment. While humans have accepted this view of environmentalism for the Holocene epoch, political environmentalist Paul Wapner proposes a renewed definition of environmentalism that has emerged in the Anthropocene epoch. Wapner sees the Anthropocene as an epoch of human geological influence, where humans have inflicted a signature on the earth, leaving it â€Å"independent of human experience† (37). That is to say, humans haveRead MoreThe World s Terrifying Impact On Earth Justifies New Anthropocene Epoch1752 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"Humanity’s terrifying impact on Earth justifies new Anthropocene epoch† is the title of an article published in the Guardian newspaper in October 2014, the purpose of this essay is to assess if this statement was and is true. The geologic timescale comprises of Eons, Eras, Periods, Epochs and Ages, all of which fit into each other with Eon being the largest. Key geological events in the life of the planet are used to mark the transition from one of these chapters to another. Fig 1 has been createdRead MoreEffects Of The Columbian Exchange1121 Words   |  5 Pageshad some environmental impacts, such as the loss of wetlands, deforestation, and both air and water pollution. Thus being the â€Å"birth of the Anthropocene.† The Anthropocene is â€Å"the idea that humanity has driven the planet into a new geological epoch has been around for a century or more. 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Such analysis will draw upon examples of the Kyoto Protocol and China’s integration intoRead MoreThe Role Of Contemporary Education On A Sustainable Global Society2006 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction (519 words) The 21st century has marked the importance of bringing up urgent, but complex problems involving significant threats to all humanity, such as global warming, pollution, and ozone depletion. Never before had it been so critical to analyse the environmental degradation and to join all the nations’ forces in order to build a sustainable global society which is meant to be based on â€Å"respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace† (The EarthRead MoreAnalyzing Anthropocentrism Ethic : A Case Study Of Climate Change1209 Words   |  5 Pagespollution make our mother planet- the earth changed sharply in such a short period (Markham, 2009). The philosophy of anthropocentrism guides people’s mind within a long history, especially become a consensus after industrialization period. In the anthropocene, the human beings are more likely to be treated as the subject of nature, and force nature to get the raw material for the survival and development of human society (Hamilton et al. 2015). As there is an argument, should anthropocentrism be responsibleRead MoreOur Solar System For Colonization1198 Words   |  5 PagesAs humanity continues to progress and drain the Earth’s resources, the planet has started a downfall of degradation--something that should have taken millions of years under natural conditions. Species are going extinct and the greenhouse gas levels are reaching high levels because of advanced civilization. The current sustainability projects humans possess are neither long term nor effective. As resources decrease and greenhouse gases increase, many scientists are looking for alternative placesRead MoreThe Is The Noble Pursuit Of Human Life1861 Words   |  8 Pagesposit to you that engineering is the noble pursuit to sustain human life and therefore is inherently an anthropological endeavour and humanistic effort to nurture humanity and manifest its glory. Were we to give rise to the cla ssical connotations engineering carries of cold and pure problem-solving-uninterested in issues of the humanities - indeed it would betray the magnitude of our existence as a species. It is this very facet that has brought us to the magnificence this day. Now with encroachingRead MoreThe Great White Shark, By Paul J. Crutzen And Eugene F. Stoermer2022 Words   |  9 PagesIn the early 2000s, the ‘Anthropocene’ emerged as a widespread term to represent the current era of Earth’s history. According to Paul J. Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer, the ‘Anthopocene’ represents a â€Å"geologic epoch† characterized by human activities that profoundly transform the environment, threaten ecosystems, and cause unparalleled disruptions on earth’s natural processes. (Ogden et al. 2013: 341) Unfortunately, humanity in the period of the ‘Anthropocene’ has contributed to a range of environmental