The Anthropocene

2007
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This influential paper formalises the concept of the Anthropocene, the proposed epoch in which humans and human societies have become a global geophysical force comparable to natural forces that have shaped Earth's history. The authors trace the Anthropocene's origins to around 1800 with the onset of industrialisation and the massive expansion in fossil fuel use, using atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration as a simple tracking indicator, and describe the 'Great Acceleration' since 1950 during which human activity and its consequences for Earth system functioning have intensified dramatically. Now one of the most widely cited papers in climate and environmental science, it provides a foundational scientific frame that much subsequent climate psychology literature builds on or responds to.

This influential paper formalises the concept of the Anthropocene, the proposed epoch in which humans and human societies have become a global geophysical force comparable to natural forces that have shaped Earth's history. The authors trace the Anthropocene's origins to around 1800 with the onset of industrialisation and the massive expansion in fossil fuel use, using atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration as a simple tracking indicator, and describe the 'Great Acceleration' since 1950 during which human activity and its consequences for Earth system functioning have intensified dramatically. Now one of the most widely cited papers in climate and environmental science, it provides a foundational scientific frame that much subsequent climate psychology literature builds on or responds to.

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