The Anthropocene has been rejected as a formal epoch by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Moving on and recognizing the deeper and more complex roots of human impacts on our planet will enable us to better, and more fairly, address them.
References
Crutzen, P. J. Nature 415, 23 (2002).
Richardson, K. et al. Sci. Adv. 9, eadh2458 (2023).
Lewis, S. L. & Maslin, M. A. Nature 519, 171–180 (2015).
Braje, T. J. J. Archaeol. Res. 23, 369–396 (2015).
Ellis, E., Maslin, M., Boivin, N. & Bauer, A. Nature 540, 192–193 (2016).
Davis, H. & Todd, Z. ACME 16, 761–780 (2017).
Boivin, N. L. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 6388–6396 (2016).
Simpson, M. Environ. Plann. D Soc. Space 38, 53–71 (2020).
Malm, A. & Hornborg, A. Anthropocene Rev. 1, 62–69 (2014).
Davies-Venn, M. How did the Anthropocene Working Group get so much wrong? University Affairs (26 October 2020).
Ellis, E. C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 379, 20220255 (2024).
Bliege Bird, R. & Nimmo, D. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2, 1050–1052 (2018).
Gibbard, P. et al. J. Quaternary Sci. 37, 395–399 (2022).
Braje, T. J. & Lauer, M. Sustainability 12, 6459 (2020).
Boivin, N. & Crowther, A. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 5, 273–284 (2021).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boivin, N., Braje, T. & Rick, T. New opportunities emerge as the Anthropocene epoch vote falls short. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 844–845 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02392-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02392-x
- Springer Nature Limited