THE ANTHROPOCENEWHAT IS THAT?!BETTY IERONIMAKI (Γ2)MARCH 20172ND EXPERIMENTAL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL OF ATHENSTEACHER: DIMITRA DERTILI

Definition

If we want to define the word “Anthropocene", we’ll have to analyze it; Its prefix ”anthropo-” derives from the greek word “Anthropos”

(άνθρωπος) which means “human”. Its suffix “-cene” is also greek since it comes from the word “kainos”

(καινός) that means “new". In addition, it is a typical suffix for "epoch" in geologic time.

Anthropocene

Anthropo- -cene

Definition

Having this information in mind, we could say that the Anthropocene is the era of mankind, the period in which humans dominate but also the new age of man.9

But when did we enter the Anthropocene?

The Anthropocene, as we have already said, is the story of how one species, mankind, changed the Earth.This chapter of our story begins in England 250 years ago(1750-1800), that is, from the start of the Industrial revolution.However, it has to be mentioned that this term we are talking about has not been officially approved by the scientific field (at least not yet).Officially, the era we are going through is the Holocene. But a group of scientists believe that the next big boundary marker between epochs is happening right now. Caused not by a giant rock from space or scouring ice sheets — but by people.

Industrial revolution(how it all began)

The Industrial Revolution, in modern history, is the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture. This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world. Although used earlier by French writers, the term Industrial Revolution was first widely used by the English economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852–83) to describe Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840.

The changes over the course of the industrial revolution

(1) the use of new basic materials, mainly iron and steel(2) the use of new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power, such as

coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-combustion engine

(3) the invention of new machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power loom that permitted increased production with a smaller waste of human energy

(4) a new organization of work known as the factory system, which involved increased division of labor and specialization of function

(5) important developments in transportation and communication, including the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegraph, and radio

(6) the increasing application of science to industry. These technological changes made possible a tremendously increased use of natural resources and the mass production of manufactured goods

Indicators of the Antropocene

1. The usage of nuclear weaponsOur war efforts have left their mark on geology. When the first nuclear weapon was detonated on 16 July 1945 in New Mexico, it deposited radionuclides – atoms with excess nuclear energy – across a wide area. Since 1952, more explosive thermonuclear weapons have been tested, leaving a global signature of isotopes such as carbon-14 and plutonium-2392. Fossil fuels The products of burning fossil fuels will also be an obvious giveaway of the Anthropocene. Current rates of carbon emission are thought to be higher than at any other time in the last 65 million years3. New materialsOne of the biggest signs of our time will be the presence of three things we use every day: concrete, plastics and aluminium.

4. Changed geologyEvery time we destroy a patch of rainforest, this changes the future of Earth’s geology. So far, we have transformed more than 50 per cent of the Earth’s land area for our own purposes5. FertilizersLevels of nitrogen and phosphorus in soils have doubled in the last century because of our increased use of fertilizers. Human activity has had perhaps the biggest impact on the nitrogen cycle for 2.5 billion years, increasing the amount of reactive nitrogen by 120 per cent compared to the Holocene. 6. Global warmingThe planet's temperature is rising. This is because we are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, which traps heat and steadily drives up the planet’s temperature.7. Mass extinctionFor as long as life has existed, organisms have gone extinct, but mass extinctions sparked by massive global changes mark the end and beginning of several geological periods

Conclusion

To conclude, it is obvious that the accomplishments of the industrial revolution are the main causes of the new era, named the Anthropocene.

Devices that have

been invented

by us up to today

What about the future?/what is next? Virtual reality(VR) Augmented reality(AR)

VIRTUAL REALITY

Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. On a computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound.

The simplest form of virtual reality is a 3-D image that can be explored interactively on a personal computer, usually by manipulating keys or the mouse so that the content of the image moves in some direction or zooms in or out

AUGMENTED REALITY

Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user's environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it.

Boeing researcher Thomas Caudell coined the term augmented reality in 1990, to describe how the head-mounted displays that electricians used when assembling complicated wiring harnesses worked. One of the first commercial applications of AR technology was the yellow "first down" line that began appearing in televised football games sometime in 1998. Today, Google glasses and heads-up displays in car windshields are perhaps the most well-known consumer AR products, but the technology is used in many industries including healthcare, public safety, gas and oil, tourism and marketing.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-g

eological-congress-human-impact-earth http://ideas.ted.com/you-have-been-living-in-a-new-geologic-time-all-along/ http://timerime.com/en/timeline/2464545/The+Anthropocene/ http://www.economist.com/content/anthropocene http://anthropocene.info/short-films.php http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-1648014

14/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28741-marks-of-the-anthropocene-7-signs-we-have-made-ou

r-own-epoch/ http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/augmented-reality-AR http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-reality

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