Jan Zalasiewicz, Emeritus Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester; Julia Adeney Thomas, Professor of History at University of Notre Dame; Colin Waters, Honorary Professor of Geology at the University of Leicester; Simon Turner, Senior Research Associate at University College London; and Martin Head, Distinguished Professor of Earth Sciences at Brock University, wrote a piece recently published in Nature about the significance of the concept of the Anthropocene despite the rejection of a proposal to formalize the Anthropocene as a geological epoch.

They write of the term:

“It highlights geology’s role in addressing problems of societal concern and is also applicable in the social sciences and humanities with respect to the enormous societal upheavals, changes in energy production and globalization of trade that have taken place. Policy and international law will also benefit from an unambiguous definition, putting beyond doubt that we are now in a time of transformed planetary functioning wrought by overwhelming human impacts.”

Continue reading the full article on the Nature website.