Word of the day: Anthropocene
The ‘Anthropocene’ is a term increasingly used to define a new planetary era: one in which humans have become the dominant force shaping Earth’s bio-geophysical composition and processes.
Initially emerging in the earth sciences as the name for a proposed new geological epoch, the Anthropocene has been widely adopted across academia as a catch-all description of the overwhelming impact of human activity on the planet.
Key markers of human effects on the global planet eco-system are:
- Increasing average temperature
- Rise in the sea level
- Unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss and extinction
- Changing chemical composition of soils, oceans and atmosphere
- Effects of plastic pollution on marine and terrestrial processes