The Unesco Courier (2018_2): Welcome to the Anthropocene!

Anthropocene, Technosphere, Great Acceleration, Sixth Extinction – a lot is being written about these ideas, both in the press and in scientific literature. But what exactly do these terms mean? To begin with,  what precisely is the Anthropocene? What are the scientific, ethical and political  implications of this hotly debated concept? The term  – anthropo for human, and cene for new –  was coined at the end of the twentieth century with the view to label a new geological epoch which we may have entered, following significant changes to Earth’s ecosystem as a result of human activity.