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| Over the past century the material well-being of most people on Earth has been
enhanced. However, in the 21st century we face scarcity in critical resources, many
ecosystem services are being eroded, and the planet’s capability to absorb and
metabolise the wastes from the growing human enterprise is being overwhelmed.
Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation, captured by the
concept of the Anthropocene, is novel in its speed, its scale and its intersection with
the Earth System. The challenge is truly global and it threatens the resilience of the
life support system on which we depend. The Anthropocene began with the invention
of the steam engine and the exploitation of fossil fuels, and exploded in scale and rate
with the advent of the Great Acceleration after the Second World War. The 21st
century challenges, however, must signal the end of business-as-usual. We need to
change our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be
adopted, ranging from geo-engineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of
the Earth System to becoming active stewards of own life support system by, for
example, defining and respecting boundaries in critical Earth System processes that
should not be transgressed. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, the
geological epoch we are now leaving, has been a stable, accommodating environment
for the development of complex human societies and is the only state of the Earth
System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve
effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we
risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory towards more hostile states from which
we cannot easily return. | |
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