Introducing the Anthropocene: The human epoch

Abstract

The term and concept of the Anthropocene were introduced by atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000 at a meeting of the Scientific Committee of the IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The Anthropocene concept had an immediate impact on the IGBP community, rapidly becoming a central organizing principle for the IGBP synthesis project (Steffen et al. 2004). However, the Anthropocene was still little known outside of the IGBP community. Two papers published in Ambio, discussed in detail below, played key roles in the development of the concept of the Anthropocene and its increasingly wide impact in the broader research community and beyond.