Doing the Anthropocene
Person photo Dr Jonas Bylund
Department of Human Geography
Description:
The project is concerned with questions of how to co-produce the Anthropocene in research and what difference it might make in environmentalism.

About a decade ago, the Anthropocene was proposed by Crutzen and Stoermer (2000) to designate the current state of the Earth. Although heralding The Age of Man (sic!), the Anthropocene does not entail a peaceful reign by humanity but a planetary environment prone to uncertain and dramatic events. It is contrasted to the Holocene, the current official epoch, which has for the last 10,000 years provided a ‘plateau’ of a relatively calm global environment compared to preceding era and considered to be one reason for humanity’s development into an agricultural species. Proponents of the Anthropocene stress that unless humanity changes its behaviour according to Earth System rules, there will be no more Holocene-type relative stability and even the sustainability of the Earth’s life support systems are threatened. Consequently, the Anthropocene reiterates common environmentalist concerns of an uncertain world where humans are neither mere observers of nor ‘unable participants’ in a ‘natural’ dimension. Humanity is now on centre stage: anthropocentric with a twist in acting truly globally as a geological force and an influence to take into account in Earth System Science (ESS).

A main characteristic of the Anthropocene is a shared core argument and resurrection of the limits to growth position. For instance, one of the current defining activities is the effort to define the planetary boundaries of a safe operating space within which humans can experience a Holocene-type stability. Indeed, a common assumption seems to be how to ensure a Holocene-type of environment. The safe operating space could, it is argued, be maintained by a rapid transition in industrial metabolism – although what this entails and how to achieve it is left to the social sciences and politics to sort out.
  
Research fields (1)
Partner Org. (2)
  
Social Sciences