Professor of Agronomy and Agroecology, Derek Lynch, from Dalhousie University, in Canada, in a recent article published on the website The Conversation, made an appeal about the geological era we are in living: the Anthropocene.
This new era has been proposed by researchers since the 1980s to highlight the significant impact of human activities on the planet.
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Lynch questions whether Nature, traditionally considered separate from humanity, has lost its relevance.
Over 4.5 billion years of geological evolution, the Earth has been shaped by natural forces, but Over the past 200,000 years, humanity has become the dominant force driving change in all you ecosystems present on the planet.
However, humanity's exceptionalist mentality has led to actions that disrespect the forms of life, as Lynch points out, citing biologist EO Wilson in his book “Half Earth” by 2016.
The Anthropocene already shows clear signs of its presence, with global biodiversity threatened with extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, abusive extraction, plastic pollution and chemical contamination to be continued.
These recurring impacts are driving species extinctions at a rate a thousand times higher than in pre-human eras.
(Image: disclosure)
The EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation's Half-Earth Project proposes preserving 50% of global surface habitat to protect 85% of all species.
Thus, Lynch still emphasizes the importance of respecting and prioritizing the role of indigenous peoples in preserving the biosphere.
Another academic, Professor of Political Science, Robyn Eckersley, from the University of Melbourne, notes that the concept of the Anthropocene does not offer a complete solution to the ecological crisis, but it can do critical work by placing political and economic history in the context of geological time.
A worrying scenario
The responsibility for shaping the future of the planet falls to humanity, a dominant geological force influencing Earth systems.
However, to date, climate negotiations have failed to keep global warming below the 2ºC established in the Paris Agreement.
Adopting the Anthropocene as a critical narrative may represent an opportunity to connect humanity to the planet and its other inhabitants, living and non-living.
This highlights the democratic crisis in accountability between those who benefit from ecological risks to enrich themselves and the vast majority who suffer the consequences.
If humanity is, in fact, the Earth's new geological force, democracy becomes the planet's most precious asset.
As the Anthropocene refocuses on hybridity and planetary coevolution, ecologists begin to understand that there is no longer any point in trying to change the natural world without including those who have already been modified by humanity.
