|
The Anthropocene is a proposed epoch that begins when human activities started to have a significant global impact on Earth's ecosystems. The term – which appears to have been used by Soviet scientists as early as the 1960s to refer to the Quaternary, the most recent geological Period – was coined with a different sense in the 1980s by ecologist Eugene F. Stoermer and has been widely popularized by atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen, who regards the influence of human behavior on the Earth's atmosphere in recent centuries as so significant as to constitute a new geological epoch for its lithosphere. , the term has not been adopted formally as part of the official nomenclature of the geological field of study. In 2008 a proposal was presented to the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London to make the Anthropocene a formal unit of geological epoch divisions. A large majority of that Stratigraphy Commission decided the proposal had merit and should be examined further. Steps are being taken by independent working groups of scientists from various geological societies to determine whether the Anthropocene will be formally accepted into the Geological Time Scale. Nevertheless, many scientists are now using the term "anthropocene", and the Geological Society of America entitled its 2011 annual meeting: ''Archean to Anthropocene: The past is the key to the future''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=2011 GSA Annual Meeting )〕 The Anthropocene has no agreed start date, but some scientists propose that, based on atmospheric evidence, it may be considered to start with the Industrial Revolution (late eighteenth century).〔 Other scientists link the new term to earlier events, such as the rise of agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution (around 12,000 years BP). Evidence of relative human impact such as the growing human influence on land use, ecosystems, biodiversity, and species extinction is controversial; some scientists believe the human impact has significantly changed (or halted) the growth of biodiversity. Those arguing for earlier dates posit that the proposed Anthropocene may have begun as early as 14,000 to 15,000 years before present, based on lithospheric evidence; this has led other scientists to suggest that "the onset of the Anthropocene should be extended back many thousand years"; this would be closely synchronous with the current term, Holocene. In January 2015, 26 of the 38 members of the International Anthropocene Working Group published a paper suggesting that the Trinity test on July 16, 1945, was the starting point of the proposed new epoch.〔(Was first nuclear test the start of new human-dominated epoch, the Anthropocene? ) UC Berkeley News Centre, 2015-1-16〕 However a significant minority supports one of several alternative dates.〔 In March 2015, a paper published in Nature suggested either 1610 or 1964 could be the beginning of Anthropocene. Other scholars point to the diachronous character of the physical strata of the Anthropocene, arguing that onset and impact are spread out over time, not reducible to a single instant or date of start. The Anthropocene Working Group plans to meet in 2016 to submit evidence and decide whether the Anthropocene is a true geologic epoch.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy – Working Group on the 'Anthropocene' )〕 ==Etymology== The name ''Anthropocene'' is a combination of Greek roots: ''anthropo-'' (Greek: ἄνθρωπος 〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Greek Word Study Tool ) 〕) meaning "human" and ''-cene'' meaning "new". All epochs in the Cenozoic Era end in "-cene". The biologist Eugene Stoermer originally coined the term, but Paul Crutzen independently re-invented and popularized it. Stoermer wrote, "I began using the term 'anthropocene' in the 1980s, but never formalized it until Paul contacted me". Crutzen has explained, "I was at a conference where someone said something about the Holocene. I suddenly thought this was wrong. The world has changed too much. So I said: 'No, we are in the Anthropocene.' I just made up the word on the spur of the moment. Everyone was shocked. But it seems to have stuck." The term was first used in print in 2000 by Crutzen and Stoermer in a newsletter of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.〔 In 2008, Zalasiewicz suggested in ''GSA Today'' that an anthropocene epoch is now appropriate.〔 As early as 1873, the Italian geologist Antonio Stoppani acknowledged the increasing power and effect of humanity on the Earth's systems and referred to an 'anthropozoic era'. A similar term, ''Homogenocene'' (from Ancient Greek: homo-, ''same'', Ancient Greek geno-, ''kind'', ''kainos-'', and -cene, ''new'' ()), was first used by Michael Samways in his editorial article in the ''Journal of Insect Conservation'' (1999) entitled, "Translocating fauna to foreign lands: here comes the Homogenocene". Samways used the term to define our current geological epoch, in which biodiversity is diminishing and ecosystems around the globe become more similar to one another. The term was used by John L. Curnutt in 2000 in ''Ecology'', in a short list entitled, "A Guide to the Homogenocene." Curnutt was reviewing ''Alien species in North America and Hawaii: impacts on natural ecosystems'' by George Cox. Andrew Revkin coined the term ''Anthrocene'' in his book ''Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast'' (1992), in which he wrote, "we are entering an age that might someday be referred to as, say, the Anthrocene. After all, it is a geological age of our own making." The name evolved into "the Anthropocene", which presents itself as a more suitable technical term. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anthropocene」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|