The Anthropocene: Where on Earth are we Going? (Full)

Human pressures on the planet as a whole – the ‘Earth System’ – have now become so great that scientists have proposed that we have left the Holocene, the 11,700-year geologic epoch that has been humanity’s accommodating home, and have entered a new geologic epoch, the Anthropocene, characterised by extremely rapid changes to the climate system driven primarily by human emissions of greenhouse gases and growing degradation of the planet’s biosphere, driven by a range of direct and indirect human pressures.

Where is the Anthropocene headed? The current trajectory of the Earth System is a rapid exit from the Holocene, accelerating towards a much hotter climate system and a degraded, ill-functioning biosphere. Perhaps most concerning is a possible ‘fork in the road’ beyond which lies ‘Hothouse Earth’. The key element of this trajectory is a ‘tipping cascade’, in which a series of interlinked tipping points – the melting of polar ice, the conversion of forest biomes to grasslands or savannas, changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation – take control of the trajectory of the Earth System and move it to a much hotter, biodiversity-impoverished, but stable state.

Professor Will Steffen (Climate Council of Australia, Australian National University) argues that avoiding this possible tipping cascade requires fundamental changes to human societies. These changes include not only advances in technologies but also more fundamental changes in societal structures and core values.

[guiart]

The best break down yet! Thanks for making it abundantly clear that we are walking towards a cliff looking at our phones...good luck everybody!

[AwakenProtocol]

A good idea can carry itself. This was the best presentation on Climate Change that I have watched. The Scientific Community has a firm footing on this one.

[a.randomjack]

Two points: (you can look them up in science papers)
1- The Amazon forest has been a net carbon emitter for the last decade
2- West Antarctic ice sheet passed it's tipping point 7 years ago
I will stop here. I watch/listen/read this kind of stuff daily since 2012. Astrophysics was a much more serene realm... I used to do that prior to 2012. I still follow it... some.
P.S. Tank you!

[miltonlooee]

Bravo Mike Flattley, Will Steffen . One of the best and clearest info sessions on the topic. Thanks

[brianwheeldon]

A big thank you Will Steffen for this at at once straightforward and compelling talk. Yet another (talk) that should be compulsory in schools, tertiary institutions, in the main stream media, and in workplaces. Nga mihi, Haere pai

[christinel]

Fascinating. Depressing, but fascinating.

[svarog]

Why does this horrifying yet rational analysis have only 601 views??? We should all stop doing whatever we're doing and start shouting these facts from rooftops – for starters!!

[sbeast]

Important Graphs
7:02 - Global temperature
14:03 - Holocene-Anthropocene boundary
18:07 - Climate model projections
20:25 - Tipping cascades
21:41 - Global tipping cascade
23:38 - Earth system trajectories
29:06 - CO2 emissions
30:09 - The earth system

[jimsimpson]

I am a Canadian who has lived in Vietnam since 2015. I have been driving a motorbike beside the south China Sea daily. There used to be a large beach next to the sea. Now the sea has flooded the hiway. Rising sea levels are for real.

[Jakob]

Rest in peace, Will. We are forever grateful for your contributions to science and humanity.

[davidwright]

Many thanks for a clear and 'evidence-rich' presentation. The fact that possible tipping points are likely before 'net-zero' is achieved, is a crucial one. 'Net zero' itself is so vague and full of cunningly engineered loopholes, that it's a highly unreliable basis for systematic and continuing change in our habits of production and consumption.

In purely technical terms could we avert the worst - and maybe even do better? Yes. Will we? Not given the present political and economic arrangements. Period.

[Stefanwhatever]

Share, share, share!!
A very clear presentation, and nobody can call this alarmist.

[ozychk]

Thank you, I have posted on Twitter. This needs to be reposted on all social media sites

[downtownportlander]

Excellent presentation. The presenter, Will Stephen (name ?), did a great job sharing complex information in a simple, easy to understand format. I certainly feel like I understand climate change and the coming of the anthropocene era better. And, I am even more convinced that we must take collective action to change out societies, especially English-speaking ones, to acknowledge environmental limits, make changes to our consumption patterns, and make our societies more equitable.

[kimwelch]

One problem is that we have never successfully engineered a society or an economy. We have tweaked systems that were already in place from natural growth, but building a different system from scratch may be beyond us.

[ravenken]

I think it is fascinating that you are understating the current impacts (1.1 degrees LOL). You also pay NO mind to what is happening to climate/food connection. So much you gloss over but so so happy about supporting your term Anthropocene. Hey, so glad you all got together and decided that a house is now on fire. Let's talk more about this house on fire. Don't do anything about it. Just talk about it. Thanks.

[bonniepoole]

This is a brilliant and enjoyable lecture! I wish I were back in college studying with Will Steffen. I think that permaculture ideals and ethics come close to the goals that humans should strive toward. Australia has the amazing Geoff Lawton as a teacher!

[patrickgleason]

So much for “we are stardust, ” (apologies to Joni Mitchell); we are more like the asteroid.

[vladimir]

“We live on a finite planet, ” that’s one concept that very few people seem able to comprehend

[ttscruz]

Spectacular research and presentation, thank you very much