Anthropocene

noun

(from Greek anthrôpos, human, and kainos, new)

Larousse definition: The current period in geological time, when human activities are having a major impact on the planet's ecosystems (biosphere), transforming them at all levels (the start of the Anthropocene is thought to coincide with the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century).

A definition which has the merit of being brief, but which is highly debatable, for example with regard to the terms chosen and the assertion of the Anthropocene's starting date. To date, there is no official recognition of the Anthropocene, and therefore no starting point. Determining the latter remains complex, and although the start of the Industrial Revolution is often mentioned, it is by no means a consensus starting point to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene. A first alternative to this brief but inaccurate definition is to return to the scientific origins of the Anthropocene concept:

Scientific definition : Originally, the Anthropocene was a proposal for a new geological epoch to be added to the Earth's historical timeline, following on from the 12,000-year Holocene. This proposal, formalized by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in an article published in 2000, was motivated by the observation that human activity has now become the main force transforming the Earth's surface, introducing clear ruptures at various levels of biosphere functioning. By extension, the Anthropocene is a term used more generally to designate the current epoch, characterized by the massive and global impact of human activity on the planet's surface.

To go further...

The definition of the Anthropocene in pictures: Human activity, based essentially on the extraction and transformation of natural resources, is manifesting itself in the massive exploitation of living organisms and a global alteration of the Earth's habitability, notably due to large-scale changes in land surface, pollution, modification of biogeochemical cycles and climate change. These impacts, some of which began several centuries ago but have been accelerating since the middle of the twentieth century, are leading to the collapse of numerous populations of living beings and an increase in species extinctions.

The scientific definition is rather factual on the origins of the Anthropocene concept, but remains rather vague on what the concept actually covers. Human activity is transforming the planet's surface, but how and what are the consequences of this transformation? What's more, since geologists have missed their rendezvous with history by refusing to recognize the Anthropocene as the new official geological epoch in Earth history, revisiting the Anthropocene as a geological epoch loses its interest, while the more general use of the concept takes on its full meaning. This brings us to the definition of the Anthropocene finally proposed by the Anthropocene Dictionary and available at the top of this page.

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Definition: The Anthropocene is a singular event in Earth's history, in progress, during which a single animal species, Homo sapiens, is exploiting living things and altering the Earth's surface in ways powerful enough to trigger what could be the sixth mass extinction of life. Among the major alterations linked to human activity are large-scale changes to the land surface (for agriculture, housing, transport and resource extraction in particular), global pollution (plastic and microplastics, eternal pollutants, etc.), modification of the major biogeochemical cycles (water, nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, etc.) and climate change. The major consequences of these alterations are the collapse of many animal populations (defaunation) and an increase in species extinction. While the Anthropocene has no clearly defined starting point, with some trends having already begun several centuries ago while others are more recent, the middle of the twentieth century corresponds to the abrupt acceleration of many trends and marks the beginning of a characteristic phase of the Anthropocene known as the Great Acceleration.

To understand the path leading us to the definition proposed by the Anthropocene dictionary, let's start with the definition proposed by the French dictionary Larousse (consulted on 27/02/2025), which is fairly consistent with the "classic" definition of the Anthropocene, according to which human activity has become the main force transforming the Earth's surface: