2
1.1 Introduction
I think it would be a grave injustice to speak of the human species as in some sense evil, even though we are
destroying the environment so efficiently at the present time. Basically that was not our intention, and it never
was. It was very natural and it was necessary for the ancestral human being to throw everything they had against
the wilderness in an attempt to conquer it and then utilise it. The nature of humankind is to expand its population,
to gain security, to control, to alter. For millions of years that paid off without undue damage. But then what
happened was, as we developed a modern industrial capacity, and then the techno-scientific capacity to eliminate
entire habitats quickly and efficiently, we succeeded too well and at long last we broke nature. And now, almost
too late, we are waking up to the fact that we have overdone it and that we are destroying the very foundation of
the environment on which humanity was built (Edward Osborne Wilson, recorded in The State of the Planet;
television program by David Attenborough, first transmitted November 2000).
1
There is ample evidence that the human species is destroying the natural resources of earth, and
that humanity’s impact on the earth systems has become comparable to planetary-scale geological
processes such as ice ages (Brito & Smith, 2012, p. 2). At the four-day convention Planet Under
Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions, held in March 2012 in London, over 3000 scientists
and experts convened to evaluate the state of the planet and explored potential solutions to an impending global crisis. Consensus was reached by the attendees and recorded that humans have driven the
planet into a new epoch, the Anthropocene,
2
in which many Earth-system processes and the living
fabric of ecosystems are now dominated by humans (Brito & Smith, 2012, p. 10) (Fig. 1.1).
While many scientists debate this concept, recently a working group of scientists, put together by
Zalasiewicz and tasked with confirming this epoch and its start date, came to conclusion that the
Anthropocene is real, and a potential start date of this new epoch can be calculated around the early
1950s due to the industrial revolution (Davison, 2019).
As argued by Wilson, the very foundation of the environment on which humanity was built is in
danger (Wilson, 2004). The human species has caused drivers of negative environmental changes
which include the pollution of earth, oceans, waterways and atmosphere. These drivers are caused by
industrial, agricultural, commercial and transportation activities of people and are now directly
impacting the narrow band of climatic conditions that supports the on-going survival of the human
species (MEA, 2005; Mgbemene, 2011; Parmesan, 2006; Pedersen Zari, 2012). The developing of
environmental impact is rooted in the technological advancement of human habitation that resulted in
developing populations, agricultural revolutions, urban and industrial revolutions, and the modern
scene (Goudie & Viles, 2013). These impacts of human actions on the environment is as a result from
the Anthropocene (Rockström et al., 2009; Steffen, Crutzen, & MCNeill, 2007). The Anthropocene is
a name for describing the new epoch in Earth’s history where human activities became a force so
profound that it impacts the functioning of the Earth’s system (Crutzen, 2002; Steffen, 2010). Human’s
impact on Nature came down to the fact that humans now have the greatest anthropo- mass of any living species on the planet and it is in the order of magnitude greater than the mass of all earthly mammals alive (Goudie, 2018, p. 27; Smil, 2011). This resulted in the biosphere transformed from a
majority of terrestrial biosphere into intensively used ‘anthromes’ with predominantly anthropogenic
processes with major negative impacts to nature (Ellis, 2011; Goudie, 2018).
Wilson further emphasise the fragile state of our planet in Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight For Life
(Wilson, 2016) by stating the ‘world ends twice’: the dawn of the Holocene replaced by the
Anthropocene, the ‘Epoch of Man’, is finally leading this world into the peak of destruction called the
Sixth Extinction. The human desire for enhanced and rapid technology will leave behind fossils of
1 The State of The Planet, presented by David Attenborough is a three-part environmental documentary series, produced
by Rupert Barrington for the BBC Natural History Unit, November 2000.
2 The Anthropocene is an informal geologic chronological term that marks the evidence and extent of human activities
that have had a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems. Eugene F. Stoermer first used the term in 1980
(Revki, 2011).
1 The State of the Planet: From Anthropocene Dominant to Regenerative-Adaptive Futures
1.1 Introduction
I think it would be a grave injustice to speak of the human species as in some sense evil, even though we are
destroying the environment so efficiently at the present time. Basically that was not our intention, and it never
was. It was very natural and it was necessary for the ancestral human being to throw everything they had against
the wilderness in an attempt to conquer it and then utilise it. The nature of humankind is to expand its population,
to gain security, to control, to alter. For millions of years that paid off without undue damage. But then what
happened was, as we developed a modern industrial capacity, and then the techno-scientific capacity to eliminate
entire habitats quickly and efficiently, we succeeded too well and at long last we broke nature. And now, almost
too late, we are waking up to the fact that we have overdone it and that we are destroying the very foundation of
the environment on which humanity was built (Edward Osborne Wilson, recorded in The State of the Planet;
television program by David Attenborough, first transmitted November 2000).
1
There is ample evidence that the human species is destroying the natural resources of earth, and
that humanity’s impact on the earth systems has become comparable to planetary-scale geological
processes such as ice ages (Brito & Smith, 2012, p. 2). At the four-day convention Planet Under
Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions, held in March 2012 in London, over 3000 scientists
and experts convened to evaluate the state of the planet and explored potential solutions to an impending global crisis. Consensus was reached by the attendees and recorded that humans have driven the
planet into a new epoch, the Anthropocene,
2
in which many Earth-system processes and the living
fabric of ecosystems are now dominated by humans (Brito & Smith, 2012, p. 10) (Fig. 1.1).
While many scientists debate this concept, recently a working group of scientists, put together by
Zalasiewicz and tasked with confirming this epoch and its start date, came to conclusion that the
Anthropocene is real, and a potential start date of this new epoch can be calculated around the early
1950s due to the industrial revolution (Davison, 2019).
As argued by Wilson, the very foundation of the environment on which humanity was built is in
danger (Wilson, 2004). The human species has caused drivers of negative environmental changes
which include the pollution of earth, oceans, waterways and atmosphere. These drivers are caused by
industrial, agricultural, commercial and transportation activities of people and are now directly
impacting the narrow band of climatic conditions that supports the on-going survival of the human
species (MEA, 2005; Mgbemene, 2011; Parmesan, 2006; Pedersen Zari, 2012). The developing of
environmental impact is rooted in the technological advancement of human habitation that resulted in
developing populations, agricultural revolutions, urban and industrial revolutions, and the modern
scene (Goudie & Viles, 2013). These impacts of human actions on the environment is as a result from
the Anthropocene (Rockström et al., 2009; Steffen, Crutzen, & MCNeill, 2007). The Anthropocene is
a name for describing the new epoch in Earth’s history where human activities became a force so
profound that it impacts the functioning of the Earth’s system (Crutzen, 2002; Steffen, 2010). Human’s
impact on Nature came down to the fact that humans now have the greatest anthropo- mass of any living species on the planet and it is in the order of magnitude greater than the mass of all earthly mammals alive (Goudie, 2018, p. 27; Smil, 2011). This resulted in the biosphere transformed from a
majority of terrestrial biosphere into intensively used ‘anthromes’ with predominantly anthropogenic
processes with major negative impacts to nature (Ellis, 2011; Goudie, 2018).
Wilson further emphasise the fragile state of our planet in Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight For Life
(Wilson, 2016) by stating the ‘world ends twice’: the dawn of the Holocene replaced by the
Anthropocene, the ‘Epoch of Man’, is finally leading this world into the peak of destruction called the
Sixth Extinction. The human desire for enhanced and rapid technology will leave behind fossils of
1 The State of The Planet, presented by David Attenborough is a three-part environmental documentary series, produced
by Rupert Barrington for the BBC Natural History Unit, November 2000.
2 The Anthropocene is an informal geologic chronological term that marks the evidence and extent of human activities
that have had a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems. Eugene F. Stoermer first used the term in 1980
(Revki, 2011).
1 The State of the Planet: From Anthropocene Dominant to Regenerative-Adaptive Futures