GG1010: CREATING THE ANTHROPOCENE (2021-2022)

This course will reflect on how humans created the Anthropocene, the epoch we are now living in, a period during which Human actions and activities have become as, if not more significant than natural processes in shaping the current and future world. It will interrogate “how did we get to where we are”.  This sets up an opportunity for students who take GG15XX to explore the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to address “what comes after”.   No prior knowledge is assumed.

Through a combination of lectures and small group teaching students will engage with the following thematic content:

1. Introduce definitions of the Anthropocene and related concepts, the Holocene and Pleistocene, consider why it is important to frame human impact in this way and discuss counter arguments that suggest the idea of an Anthropocene is misguided.
2. Climate perspectives on the Anthropocene: Considers competing suggestions for the dates at which transition between the Holocene/Anthropocene took place. One marker is the introduction of agriculture (the advent of rice cultivation), another aligns with the advent of the nuclear era. A long-term perspective on climate change, at timescales of centuries to millions of years is provided to evaluate how we got here and the extremity of ongoing change in relation to natural climatic fluctuations.
3. Human perspectives on the Anthropocene: Considers the nature of the changes leading to the Anthropocene including nature-society relationships, geo-political structures, industrial and agricultural revolutions and the transition to late capitalism.
4. Changing dynamics within human populations and their impacts on climate, land, water, ice, biodiversity and soils are reviewed at global, regional and local scales. These include, for example: the development of industry and associated economic growth, the advent of mining and metallurgy, the industrial revolution and the arrival of the fossil fuel age and subsequently the nuclear era; the rise of globalisation, increasing urbanisation, changing mobility patterns for people and commodities (e.g. cars, air travel) and the growth of consumerism and consumption; changes in agricultural and other extensive land uses and food production; and associated environmental impacts such as pollution on the physical world

The course will be assessed by completion of in-course assessments and a final written exam.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

More Information about Week Numbers

2 x Individual Report (33.33% each)

Written Exam (33.33%)

There are no assessments for this course.