Crafting a Better Response to the “Anthropocene”
June 11, 2024
A panel of geologists recently rejected designating current decades as the start of the Anthropocene, or “Age of Humans.” But many scientists and laypeople are sticking with the label, maintaining that it reflects humanity’s profound impact on the planet and its residents, the Washington Post reports. In Issues, Ritwick Ghosh argues for circumventing the semantics to focus on improving government climate and environmental policies. “Pinning policy actions on official scientific declarations,” he writes, “may limit ambitions and crimp views of consensus and could steer policymakers toward grand gestures, pulling focus from more impactful incremental and local change.”