A ‘No Analogue’ State: the Anthropocene and its implications

Abstract

The term Anthropocene has gained widespreadacceptance over the last decade. Although theterm and similar ones have been used in the past,to describe more or less similar ideas, the notion that thescale of human activity has now reached a level wherewe have entered a new geological epoch was formallyproposed in May 2000 by scientists Paul Crutzen andEugene Stoermer in the newsletter of the InternationalGeosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP)1 followingan apparently off-the-cuff remark from Crutzen at aprevious meeting of the IGBP