QUIZ # 4

3) Ganesh Chakravarthi. “Is it Time to Embrace the Anthropocene? The Anthropocene requires that humanity take responsibility for preserving the earth and its species.” The Diplomat. February 11, 2020. PAGE 1052 https://thediplomat.com/2020/02/is-it-time-to-embrace-the-anthropocene/

 

I agree with Ganesh Chakravathi, it is time to Embrace the Anthropocene. Embracing the Anthropocene is not a new concept.  Based on this article is “a geological epoch, similar to the ice ages of the yore, but in this case human beings and their actions impact the earth in far greater magnitudes than all of nature combined. The term Anthropocene was coined by Paul Crutzen, a Nobel prize-winning scientist, who said “This name change stresses the enormity of humanity’s responsibility as stewards of the Earth.” In addition, this concept is also a living proof that history of human beings does not entail just dates and events but there is a big correlation between the physicality of our planet with the events that have shaped our human history. Strayer’s, chapter 23 addresses this issue in detail. He states human being have been altering their environment through wars, revolutions, empires. These events have had a tremendous impact in our planet: species extinctions, increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the depletion of ground water reserves, the enlargement of deserts, dead zones in the oceans, transformation of the landscape as wetland shrink and cities grow. That’s the reason this epoch has been called the “age of the man” (p.1052). Furthermore, Strayers states this transformation of the environment and its impact on the earth’s ecology is due to overpopulation -it quadrupled in a single century; its world population in 1900 it was 1.6 billion, yet by 2014, it increased to 7.2 billion due to better medicine discoveries and sanitation that lower the mortality rate, and Green revolution technologies that allowed to genetically modified seeds and create fertilizes that increased world food supplies (p.1052). The second cause that created stress in the environment was when human being began taping into fossil fuels. Coal in the 19th century and oil in the 20th century. Lastly, the third contribution to this environmental transformation was economic growth. Modern science and technology increased creation of good and services. Throughout history, human being have altered their environment since we came to existence, but never in a geological and environmental impact as it happened recently (p.1053). I am hopeful that we can globally adapt the same mind set that it is time to protect our planet so we can reverse the damage that we have caused it.