Description

Global population is expected to increase from 6.7 to about 9.7 billion people

by 2050. Earth has gone through many icehouse-greenhouse cycles over its

4.5-billion-year history, and there is good evidence that human activities

have accelerated the warming trend globally since the Industrial Revolution.

Hotter temperatures, more drought and severe storms and sea-level rise are

some of the significant changes that we can expect to see in the future. Nature

does not discriminate and humans are just another species living on the

planet. While some areas of the world will feel these impacts more than

others, global change will impact us all. In addition to the global change

issues that we are all certain to face, the environmental damage that has been

caused by our species is impacting the environment and our way of life.

In 2000, the concept of the Anthropocene epoch was proposed by Crutzen

the 1995 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. He believed that the impact of human

activities on Earth was sufficient to form a new geologic epoch and proposed

that the Industrial Revolution was the beginning of the Anthropocene. While

the creation of a new geologic epoch may be warranted, neither the International

Commission on Stratigraphy nor the International Union of Geological

Sciences has approved naming this slice of geologic time.

Nonetheless, soon after this concept was put forward, many scholars posited

that the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch should be earlier and based on

science. Opinions are varied. James Lovelock pointed out that the Anthropocene

epoch began during the Industrial Revolution, but according to

William Ruddiman, it can be traced back to the beginning of human farming

activities about 8000 years ago during the Neolithic epoch. At that time,

agriculture and animal husbandry replaced hunting and gathering methods of

survival, followed by the extinction of large mammals.