Arguments Against The Anthropocene

The ‘anthropocene’ is a highly debated topic and there are multiple opinions on whether it exists. The concept of the anthropocene states that humans have had such a dominant effect on the physical environment that we have now entered a new geological epoch (Lewis and Maslin, 2015). Much of the substance for these arguments questions whether there is enough evidence to support the claim that we have entered a new geological epoch and whether effects such as rising CO2 emissions and biodiversity loss are really happening and can be attributed to human causes. Among those who support the idea of the anthropocene, there are contrasting views regarding when the marker for its onset should be placed in geological time. The following paper will aim

He states that the most useful palaeontological evidence to define the anthropocene would be biostratigraphic assemblage and abundance zones of native and non-native species within terrestrial, and marine realms. He also argues that the introduction of tarmac to the strata through the paving of roads marks a distinct new layer whereby humans have directly influenced the stratigraphic nature of the land. Barnosky (2014) states that this evidence would support placing a Holocene- Anthropocene boundary at 1950 and that it is not possible to propose an ending boundary because the anthropocene extends to the present day.Among those who believe the anthropocene does exist, there is dispute over when it started. For example, we learnt that Barnosky (2014) believes there is evidence to place the marker at 1950, however there are contrasting views suggesting that it should be placed earlier. Crutzen (2006), for example, suggests that the start of the epoch could be defined over two centuries ago at the time of the design of the Steam engine in

(2007) and Crutzen and Steffen (2003), a proposal was put forward by Ruddiman (2003) suggesting that there is potential evidence for the start of the anthropocene to be placed 8000-5000 years ago. He argues that land clearance for agriculture and rice irrigation between these times may have led to increases in atmospheric CO2 and CH4 large enough to prevent the onset of glaciation in Canada. Similar to this ‘Early anthropocene’ proposal is the opinion that the anthropocene started even earlier (About 11000 years ago) and is coeval with the Holocene (Smith and Zeder, 2013).Aside from those who agree that the anthropocene is real (despite disagreement regarding its beginning), there is dispute that it exists at all. Malm and Hornborg (2014) critique the narrative of the anthropocene by stating that humans may not be the dominant forces in changing the environment. For example, they recognise that there is a correlation between human population growth, and rising CO2 emissions but they then go on to argue that atmospheric CO2 has increased by a factor of 654.8 whereas population has increased by only a factor of 6.6. Using this, they argue that there must be other forces responsible for changing the environment considerably