Abstract
Humanactivities are exerting increasing impacts on the environment on all scales, in many ways outcompeting natural processes. This includes the manufacturing of hazardous chemical compounds which are not produced by nature, such as for instance the chlorofluorocarbon gases which are responsible for the ‘ozonehole’. Because human activities have also grown to become significant geological forces, for instance through land use changes, deforestationand fossil fuel burning, it is justified to assign the term ‘anthropocene’ to the current geological epoch. This epoch may be defined to have started about two centuries ago, coinciding with James Watt’s design of the steam engine in 1784.
This text was first published by Paul J. Crutzen: “The ‘anthropocene’”, in: J.J. Phys. IV France, 12,10 (November 2002), (Les Ulis: EDP Sciences); at: DOI: 10.1051 /jp4:20020447. The permission was granted on 28 May 2018 by M. Dominique Zumpano, Executive Assistant, EDF.
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Crutzen, P.J. (2021). The ‘Anthropocene’ (2002). In: Benner, S., Lax, G., Crutzen, P.J., Pöschl, U., Lelieveld, J., Brauch, H.G. (eds) Paul J. Crutzen and the Anthropocene: A New Epoch in Earth’s History. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82202-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82202-6_4
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