Origins of Anthropocene awareness

Abstract

Validating the Anthropocene as a new epoch and dating its start preoccupies many contributors to this journal. Awareness of anthropogenic change, rather than change itself, is my concern here. When, how and to whom did major human impacts became apparent? Some supposed Earth-reshaping effects have been actual, others illusory or exaggerated, still others conjectural or prospective. Attributions of causative human agency stem not only from empirical observation and historical accounts, but also from deeply embedded notions of religious purpose and moral propriety. I sketch the history of impact awareness and the utility of Anthropocene precedents. I then discuss the pioneering insights of George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882), the first to combine observations of ongoing terrestrial transformations with historically based analyses of cumulative impacts. In conclusion, I stress the relevance of Marsh’s awareness of deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, flooding, biotic impoverishment, and prospective systemic changes for an Earth at risk from less immediately visible but even graver, longer-lasting, more globalized and more intractable anthropogenic damage.

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