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Extraordinary human energy consumption and resultant geological impacts beginning around 1950 CE initiated the proposed Anthropocene Epoch
Communications Earth & Environment2020
294 citations
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Score: 55
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Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Colin N. Waters,
Colin N. Waters,
Colin N. Waters,
Michael Wagreich,
Neil L. Rose,
James P. M. Syvitski,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Colin N. Waters,
Colin N. Waters,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Neil L. Rose,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Colin N. Waters,
Colin N. Waters,
Colin N. Waters,
Colin N. Waters,
Will Steffen,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Martin J. Head,
Mark Williams
John W. Day,
Mark Williams
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Neil L. Rose,
Colin N. Waters,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Neil L. Rose,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Martin J. Head,
John D. Milliman,
Michael Wagreich,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Michael Wagreich,
John D. Milliman,
Martin J. Head,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Michael Wagreich,
Colin Summerhayes,
Will Steffen,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Colin Summerhayes,
Will Steffen,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Neil L. Rose,
Mark Williams
Colin N. Waters,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Michael Wagreich,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Colin Summerhayes,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
Will Steffen,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
Irka Hajdas,
John McNeill,
Neil L. Rose,
Irka Hajdas,
Irka Hajdas,
Irka Hajdas,
Martin J. Head,
John McNeill,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
Will Steffen,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
John McNeill,
Colin Summerhayes,
Martin J. Head,
Martin J. Head,
Martin J. Head,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
Mark Williams
Michael Wagreich,
Clément Poirier,
Mark Williams
Neil L. Rose,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
James P. M. Syvitski,
William Shotyk,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
Reinhold Leinfelder,
James P. M. Syvitski,
Michael Wagreich,
Agnieszka Gałuszka,
John McNeill,
John McNeill,
Mark Williams
John McNeill,
Alejandro Cearreta,
Clément Poirier,
Clément Poirier,
Clément Poirier,
John McNeill,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
Neil L. Rose,
William Shotyk,
William Shotyk,
William Shotyk,
William Shotyk,
Colin Summerhayes,
Colin Summerhayes,
Colin Summerhayes,
Michael Wagreich,
James P. M. Syvitski,
Will Steffen,
James P. M. Syvitski,
James P. M. Syvitski,
Michael Wagreich,
Michael Wagreich,
Michael Wagreich,
Mark Williams
Mark Williams
Mark Williams
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Jan Zalasiewicz,
Mark Williams
Summary
This study examines the extraordinary growth in human energy consumption beginning around 1950, proposing it as a key marker for the start of the Anthropocene epoch. Researchers found that total human energy expenditure since 1950 exceeds that of the entire preceding 11,700 years of the Holocene. The dramatic acceleration in energy use, economic activity, and population growth has driven geological-scale environmental changes including widespread pollution and ecosystem disruption.
Abstract Growth in fundamental drivers—energy use, economic productivity and population—can provide quantitative indications of the proposed boundary between the Holocene Epoch and the Anthropocene. Human energy expenditure in the Anthropocene, ~22 zetajoules (ZJ), exceeds that across the prior 11,700 years of the Holocene (~14.6 ZJ), largely through combustion of fossil fuels. The global warming effect during the Anthropocene is more than an order of magnitude greater still. Global human population, their productivity and energy consumption, and most changes impacting the global environment, are highly correlated. This extraordinary outburst of consumption and productivity demonstrates how the Earth System has departed from its Holocene state since ~1950 CE, forcing abrupt physical, chemical and biological changes to the Earth’s stratigraphic record that can be used to justify the proposal for naming a new epoch—the Anthropocene.