Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The Earth System Science community has fostered the concept of the Anthropocene, i.e. a new geologic epoch in which the human enterprise becomes a dominant influence on the global environment. Results of expansive Earth System Science research in recent decades also permits the formulation of an Anthropocene Narrative, a story cast in terms of humanity’s past, present, and future relationship to the rest of the Earth system. This story is a significant component of our global intellectual heritage, e.g. along with the Copernican revolution and awareness of biological evolution. The promulgation of the Anthropocene Narrative has implications for humanity’s future because educated global citizens who understand it will determine if the planet careens towards another mass extinction event, or supports a sustainable, high technology, global civilization. Thinking about humanity as a whole of course obscures vast heterogeneity in economic power and responsibility for current environmental problems, but it is a required in an increasingly multipolar, multicultural world in which cooperation to address global environmental change issues is necessary.