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The public has a right to the information about Informing these critical developments and urgent threats, The Anthropocene to allow them to make decisions about their own Planetary scientists divide ’s into people about actions and seek changes from policymakers which geological time spans such as “periods” and “epochs”. can ameliorate or avert the ongoing crisis in the Our current is the , which began the new natural world. Organisations which take on the approximately 12,000 ago. Now, a growing responsibility of informing the public about natural body of scientists from multiple disciplines are history have the authority, expertise and duty to proposing the official recognition of a new epoch, the world order provide that vital service. Anthropocene, to recognise the impact upon the Earth’s , climate and other .

The impact of human activity upon our planet is now That term’s official adoption as a geological era is so profound and potentially long-lasting that the currently being considered by the global scientific renaming of our geological era as the Anthropocene body responsible for these classifications, the – ‘ the age of ’ - is being advocated by a Subcommission on Quarternary Stratigraphy, growing body of scientists. In parallel, there is growing following a recommendation for its adoption by a consensus that the Earth is undergoing the ‘Sixth dedicated working group in 20161. Mass ’, a permanent loss of multiple caused not by natural phenomena but human activity. The name is widely recognised as a useful classification of the period in which human activity The public rely on many institutions and organisations has created and continues to generate deep and to inform them about the natural world. Many lasting effects on the Earth and its living systems. address the impact of human activity but such is the In particular, it represents the transition from a pace and intensity of the changes now happening planetary system which furnishes human beings that the gravity of the current situation is rarely with natural enabling them to flourish, fully presented. In particular, the interrelated effects to a system in which human beings drive changes of exponential growth and massively which threaten the planet’s ability to support us. expanding are frequently under- represented or neglected. 1 http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/workinggroups/anthropocene/ Among the many harmful effects on the natural world brought about by human activity are:

Alterations in the Earth’s chemical composition One effect of increased atmospheric CO2 is its Human activity has changed chemical cycles which absorption by the sea, leading to a change in oceanic determine the distribution of chemicals in land, air, pH, known as ocean acidification. Consequences water and natural systems. The most well-known of acidification include impairment of marine is carbon because of its potentially disastrous invertebrate animals’ skeletal development, effect on climate (see below). In 2016, the amount affecting entire food chains. Acidification and of (CO2) in the atmosphere rose global warming also destroy coral reefs, which are permanently above 400 parts per million – its vital and ecosystems for marine life5. highest permanent level for millions of years and “Only for a brief period can we a consequence of human activity, including the cut trees faster than they mature, burning of fossil fuels and deforestation1. Species extinction harvest more fish than the oceans Scientists estimate that the current rate of species can replenish, or emit more carbon Cycles for phosphorous and nitrogen are also into the atmosphere than the forests extinction is at least 100 times greater than it would affected - by industrial practices and their usein and oceans can absorb.” be without human intervention (some estimates put fertiliser - leading to consequences such as water 11 the rate at 1,000 or even 10,000 times)6. Human- WWF, 2016 eutrophication (depletion of oxygen), effectively related causes include “harvesting”, loss or killing off some aquatic ecosystems2. fragmentation, , and human- animal conflict7. The extinction of species reflects a massive decline in of animals, with a 58% Climate change fall in vertebrate populations between 1970 and 2012 As a result of emissions, including (over which period the human population doubled) CO2 and ozone-depleting substances, climate and a projected decline of 67% by 20208. change is already happening. 2016 was the hottest since modern records began in 1880. A global All of these changes are taking place at a rate temperature rise of at least 1°C is now considered measurable during a single human lifetime, and 2 Yale Environment 360 http://e360.yale.edu/features/how-the-world-passed-a-carbon-threshold-400ppm-and- why-it-matters likely by many authorities, while some are their effects over one more human lifetime could be 3  Daily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101007141106.htm; Worldwatch Institutehttp:// www.worldwatch.org/node/516 4 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg2/index.php?idp=29; predicting changes of two or even three degrees catastrophic. Human beings themselves are already GHG online http://ghgonline.org/predictions.htm; Yale Environment 360 http://e360.yale.edu/features/ 3 how-the-world-passed-a-carbon-threshold-400ppm-and-why-it-matters; Agency within the next 40 years . The consequences of suffering the effects of these changes, including https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/future-climate-change_.html 5 NASA https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/; WWF https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/effects-climate-change climate change include glacial melting, rising sea through food and , soil , climatic 6 Smithsonian Institution Ocean portal http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-acidification 7 WWF http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/biodiversity/ levels, species and an increase in severe events and for resources.A recent study 8 WWF http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/ 9 WWF https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2016 4 weather events . found that 750 million people in south Asia have 10 India Climate Dialogue http://indiaclimatedialogue.net/2017/06/16/climate-impacts-hit-750-million-south-asians-10-years/ already suffered effects from climate change9. 11 WWF https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2016 The consensus amongst most advocates for the The scale of humanity’s presence and effect can Population, consumption adoption of the Anthropocene is that its start date be strikingly illustrated by the transition from a would be the onset of the , world in which wild animals composed the vast and the Anthropocene 1750/1800. In addition to and majority of the weight of on the land the development of , that period has (known as ) to one in which they have been marked by of the human almost disappeared in statistical terms. When the population, which has multiplied by more than biomass of domesticated animals is included, “The size and scale of the seven times. based on the best available estimates for 10,000 human enterprise have grown years ago, wild mammals have gone from being exponentially since the mid- In the early , we are adding an extra 99% of terrestrial biomass to a little 20th Century… The of billion people to the global population every 12 to over 1%14. many living is now 15 years. The UN’s median population projection in question.” foresees no peak in our growth until the 22nd century, Clearly, such numerical transformations are key – at more than 11 billion people (approximately 50% and indeed fundamental – factors in driving the WWF12 more than today)13 – unless positive action is taken negative impacts witnessed on a global scale during to manage that growth. the Anthropocene.

10 10,000

9 YEARS AGO

8 99% Wild Animals 1% Humans 7

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WORLD POPULATION (BILLIONS) 2

1 TODAY

0 1% Wild Animals 1050 1150 1250 1350 1450 1550 1650 1750 1850 1950 2050 32% Humans YEAR 67%

12 WWF https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2016 13 United Population Division 2017 https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Graphs/Probabilistic/POP/TOT/ 14 Based on Smil http://www.vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/PDR37-4.Smil_.pgs613-636.pdf The impact of consumption The future of the Informing and

“Consumption and are closely natural world in the empowering people inter-twined. Every person must consume, and each additional person on the planet will Anthropocene Whether the term Anthropocene is adopted or add to total consumption levels.” not, our age is marked by the fundamental and Royal Society, 201215 The Brookings Institution projects that our current undeniable impact of human beings on the natural global ‘middle class’ of 3.2 billion people consuming world. The general public, however, still lack clear, Individual human beings are consumers of natural at a high level in 2016 will rise to roughly 5 billion accessible information, alerting them to the facts, resources, from food and water to fuels and minerals. by 203017. The UN estimates that by 2050, we will communicating the urgency of the issues, and We are also all producers of “” which the natural require 70% more food18 and the International making them aware of the positive choices that are environment must process or absorb, such as greenhouse Agency calculates that the global demand for available to mitigate the impacts. gases, effluent and chemical pollutants. Immense energy will increase by 30% by 204019. Each of these disparities exist between the richest and poorest, with the developments and many more, threaten the natural Organisations with a mission to inform, educate developed world overwhelmingly responsible for negative world. The Sixth Mass Extinction is already underway and stimulate people to think about and impacts globally. Even those who consume and produce and the pressures on our planet’s biodiversity, appreciate the natural world have a vital role in the least, however, have a significant, sometimes deeply renewable resources, habitats and species can only putting that right. destructive, impact on their local environments. multiply as population and consumption increase.

The Global Footprint Network assesses humanity’s In a world of finite resources, addressing population annual demand on the Earth’s natural resources and size and overall consumption is essential to creating ecosystems, comparing renewable natural resources a sustainable future in which everyone enjoys secure available (both nationally and globally) with the human on a healthy planet. The more we are, the less demands placed upon them. It has established that planet there is per person –and per species. since the 1970s, humanity has been in ecological “”, with annual demand on resources “Ignoring this diagnosis will have major exceeding what Earth can regenerate each year. Today, implications for humanity. We can restore humanity uses the equivalent of 1.7 to provide the planet’s health but only through the resources we use and absorb our waste16. addressing the root causes, and .”

Exceeding the Earth’s capacity to provide is impossible Jonathan Baillie, Zoological Society of London20 to sustain. Natural History Museum © Kathryn Yengel

Population Matters 15 Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/people-planet 16 Global Footprint Network http://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/ecological-footprint/ www.populationmatters.org 17 Brookings Institution https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/global_20170228_global-middle-class.pdf 18 UN Food and Agriculture Organisation http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/a2128b09-361c-5468-9d93-2189cc430234/ [email protected] 19 International Energy Agency https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/WEO_2014_ES_English_WEB.pdf 20 WWF http://www.wwf.org.hk/?6840/Rising-consumption-increased--use-by-a-growing-population-puts-unbearable-pressure- 135-137 Station Rd, London E4 6AG on-our-Planet--WWF-2012-Living-Planet-Report Charity no: 1114109