Chapter 5: Welcome To The Anthropocene

July 13, 2019

     

          In Chapter 5, the author starts out by filling us in about a small experiment that in the end helped explain the concept of "A Paradigm", and from this an influential historian of science, Thomas Kuhn, explains how human beings are found to adapt to new or changing environments using the strategies they are familiar with. Eventually, they find new strategic methods to cope with the new environment "A New Paradigm", and in doing so human beings create a safe environment for themselves to thrive in. This connects to the APES Theme: Humans alter natural systems, Technology and population growth have enabled humans to increase both the rate and scale of their impact on the environment. According to page 105, "Often purposefully and just as often not, humans have rearranged the earth's biota, transporting the flora and fauna of Asia to the Americas and of the Americas to Europe and of Europe to Australia". Kolbert talks about the species, Graptolites, and how although their evolutionary advantages helped cope with their environment when a major environmental change occurred it turned their evolutionary advantages into disadvantages. Similarly, although humans are in a stable condition it won't stay that way since the environment is subjected to intense frequent change. The author lists the 6 points that Paul Crutzen pointed out in the "Anthropocene era": Humans transformed more than 1/3 of all the land surface of the planet; damned or diverted the river systems; produced a lot of nitrogen through agriculture; eliminated more than 1/3 of marine life of the oceans coastal waters; Consumed more than half the worlds fresh water; and changed the composition of the Earth's atmosphere. According to page 108, "Because of these anthropogenic emissions [the global climate is likely to depart significantly from natural behavior for many millennia to come". [P] I can predict that the Anthropocene era will come to an end in the near future without the assistance of technology against the changing environment.