The purpose
The Anthropocene is an increasingly ubiquitous term used by scientists, geographers, geologists, and climate modelers. It describes a time, the current time period, when humans have become the single most influential species on planet Earth. Such impact is now widely recognised as damaging and ultimately self-destructive — a phenomenon known as global warming.
The Anthropocene is both a time period and a (proposed) geological epoch. An epoch is a subdivision of a geological period when a particular rock series is deposited (see Appendix D). In August 2016, scientists first coined the term ‘the Anthropocene’ however it is yet to be formally declared by geologists. Regardless, the influence of humans on the environment is unquestioned and the Anthropocene is now widely recognised. It was first mentioned by Italian geologist Antonio Stoppani in 1873. Stoppani stated ‘the Anthropozoic era has begun’ predicting human influence on the natural world would last ‘long into the future’ in his work titled Corso di Geologia.
In a 2020 Teachmeet at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) former geography teacher and activist Paul Turner explained ‘the choice [of our] words are really important; I can’t emphasise enough that far too often we talk about something like the climate crisis in a distant sense or in an othering. It is really important that we communicate the urgency and agency that is needed to respond.’ You can watch an extract from his talk here.
Specification links
AQA
Core A Level units 3.1 Physical Geography 3.1.1.4 Water, carbon, climate, and life on Earth and 3.2 Human Geography 3.2.1.5.1 Antarctica as a global common.
Edexcel
Core A Level units Topic 5: The Water Cycle and Water Insecurity 5.6 Climate change may have significant impacts on the hydrological cycle globally and locally and Topic 6: The Carbon Cycle and Energy Security 6.9 Further planetary warming risks large-scale release of stored carbon, requiring
responses from different players at different scales and Topic 7: Superpowers 7.5 a. Superpowers and emerging nations play a key role in global action (crisis response, conflict, climate change).
OCR
Core A Level unit Topic 1.2 – Earth’s Life Support Systems 4.a. The impact of long-term climate change on the water and carbon cycles and optional Topic 3.1 – Climate Change.
Eduqas
Optional A Level units 3.2 Ecosystems 3.2.6 Impacts of climate change on the Arctic tundra biome and Development in an African Context 3.3.9. The constraining effects of climate variability, droughts and / or floods on development and 3.5 Weather and Climate.
You can download the full resource from the downloads box. This resource contains further information and lesson activities.
This resource was first published in 2021.