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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
THE ANTHROPOCENE
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
THE ANTHROPOCENE
EDITORS IN CHIEF
DOMINICK A. DELLASALA
Geos Institute, Ashland, Oregon, United States
MICHAEL I. GOLDSTEIN
Surfbird Consulting, Juneau, Alaska, United States
VOLUME 1
GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND ENERGY

SCOTT ELIAS
University of Colorado, Boulder, United States
Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, United Kingdom
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB
225 Wyman Street, Waltham MA 02451
Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
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This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted
herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in
research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers may always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods,
compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the
safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or
damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods,
products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-128-09665-9
For information on all publications

visit our website at http://store.elsevier.com
Printed and bound in the United States
Publisher: Oliver Walter

Acquisition Editor: Ruth Ireland
Content Project Manager: Sean Simms
Associate Content Project Manager: Joanne Williams
Designer: Matthew Limbert
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND DEDICATIONS
The Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene is dedicated to all those fighting for a healthy planet for this and future
generations with the intent of creating a world where the planet’s life support systems are sustainable.
We dedicate this to the first humans who emerged out of Africa, who eventually used tools to begin transform-
ing their environment that ultimately led to the brilliance of the human cortex that now has the capacity to solve
global problems when the willingness to change is fully embraced. We also dedicate this to the next cohort: Iara,
Lais, Janelle, Andrew, Jacob, Ella, Ariela, Benjamin, Surin, Bela, and co.
Dominick DellaSala
Mike Goldstein
Scott Elias
Bruce Jennings
Tom Lacher
Pierre Mineau
Sanjay Pyare
v
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 1: GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND ENERGY
List of Contributors xi
Contents of all Volumes xiii
Editor Biographies xxv

Introduction xxix
The Anthropocene: How the Great Acceleration Is Transforming the Planet at Unprecedented Levels 1
DA DellaSala, MI Goldstein, SA Elias, B Jennings, TE Lacher Jr., P Mineau, and S Pyare
Basis for Establishment of Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs 9

SA Elias
Finding a “Golden Spike” to Mark the Anthropocene 19

SA Elias
Arguments for a formal Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene 29
J Zalasiewicz and CN Waters
The Geomorphology of the Human Age 35

P Tarolli, G Sofia, and Wenfang CAO
The 1950s as the Beginning of the Anthropocene 45

C Ludwig and W Steffen
Sediments of the Anthropocene 57

A Gałuszka and ZM Migaszewski
Historical Overview of the Natural Gas Industry 63

CJ Castaneda
Concrete: The Most Abundant Novel Rock Type of the Anthropocene 75

CN Waters and J Zalasiewicz
Hydrology in the Anthropocene 87

P Bridgewater, E Guarino, and RM Thompson
Fluxes of Trace Metals on a Global Scale 93

RJ Thorne, JM Pacyna, K Sundseth, and EG Pacyna
Impacts of Anthropocene Fossil Fuel Combustion on Atmospheric Iron Supply to the Ocean 103
AW Schroth
Greatly Increased CO2 115

SA Elias
Anthropogenic Soils as the Marker 129

G Certini and R Scalenghe
Plastics in the Ocean 133

SA Elias
vii
viii Contents of Volume 1: Geologic History and Energy
Evidence in Polar Ice Records 151

EW Wolff
Humanly Modified Ground 157

M Edgeworth
Plastics and the Anthropocene 163

PL Corcoran, K Jazvac, and A Ballent
The Anthropocene—A Potential Stratigraphic Definition Based on Black Carbon, Char, and Soot Records 171
YM Han, ZS An, and JJ Cao
Magnetic Particulates as Markers of Fossil Fuel Burning 179

MW Hounslow
Spheroidal Carbonaceous Fly Ash Particles in the Anthropocene 189

NL Rose
Isotopic Signatures 197

JR Dean, MJ Leng, and AW Mackay
Geochemical Records in Speleothems 205

IJ Fairchild
Chemical Signals of the Anthropocene 213

The Evidence for Human Agency in the Late Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions 219
G Haynes
Editor's Note 227

SA Elias
Increased Acidity of Ocean Waters 233

SA Elias
Loss of Coral Reefs 245

SA Elias
Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event 259

T Pievani
Paleoclimatology 265
SA Elias
Rewilding the Pleistocene Fauna 277

SA Elias
Development of Coal-Fired Steam Technology in Britain 285

M Whitmore
Rise of Airline Transportation After WWII 307

M Whitmore
Environmental Effects of Terrestrial Oil Spills 323

A Jernelöv
Rise in Motorized Transportation and Weapons in the World Wars 337

M Whitmore
Sustainable Energy Development; The Role of Geothermal Power 357

B Davidsdottir
Environmental Issues Associated with Energy Technologies and Natural Resource Utilization 381
V Ribé
City Planning and Energy Use 385

H Park and C Andrews
Contents of Volume 1: Geologic History and Energy ix
Energy Use in Food System 397

C Dutilh, H Blonk, and A Linnemann
Introduction to Renewable Energy 405

E Nehrenheim
Wind Farms 407

EL Petersen and PH Madsen
Industrial Energy Use, Status and Trends 421

E Worrell
Environmental Change and Energy 431

IG Simmons
Energy and Natural Resources 441

E Nehrenheim
Combustion to Concentration to Warming: What Do Climate Targets Mean for Emissions?

Climate Change and the Global Carbon Cycle 443
AS Denning
Overview Article for the Geologic History Section 453

SA Elias
Climate Change and Energy 457

SA Elias
Metrics for Greenhouse Gas Equivalence 467

IG Enting
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Energy Systems, Comparison, and Overview 473
C Bauer, K Treyer, T Heck, and S Hirschberg
Water Conflict Case Study – Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam: Turning from Conflict to Cooperation 485
JC Veilleux
Thinning Combined With Biomass Energy Production Impacts Fire-Adapted Forests in Western
United States and May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions 491
DA DellaSala and M Koopman
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS FOR VOLUME 1
ZS An AS Denning
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China; Xi'an Jiaotong Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
University, Xi'an, China; Joint Center for Global Change
C Dutilh
Studies, Beijing, China
Consultant Sustainable Development, Amsterdam, The
C Andrews Netherlands
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, and Rutgers
M Edgeworth
University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
A Ballent
SA Elias
Algalita Marine Research and Education, Long Beach, CA,
University of Colorado, Boulder, United States; Royal
United States
Holloway, University of London, Egham,
C Bauer United Kingdom
Paul Scherrer Institut, Aargau, Switzerland
IG Enting
H Blonk The University of Melbourne, Marysville, Australia
Blonk Consultants, Gouda, The Netherlands
IJ Fairchild
P Bridgewater University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United
University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia Kingdom
JJ Cao A Gałuszka
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China; Xi'an Jiaotong Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce, Poland
University, Xi'an, China
MI Goldstein
Wenfang CAO Surfbird Consulting, Juneau, Alaska, United States
University of Padova, Agripolis, Legnaro, Italy
E Guarino
CJ Castaneda University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia
CSU, Sacramento, CA, USA
YM Han
G Certini Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, China; Xi’an Jiaotong
Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy University, Xi’an, China; Joint Center for Global Change
Studies, Beijing, China JJ Cao, Chinese Academy
PL Corcoran
University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada G Haynes
University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States
B Davidsdottir
University of Iceland, Reykjaví k, Iceland T Heck
JR Dean
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, United Kingdom; S Hirschberg
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Paul Scherrer Institut, Aargau, Switzerland
Kingdom
MW Hounslow
DA DellaSala Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University,
Geos Institute, Ashland, Oregon, United States Bailrigg, Lancaster, United Kingdom
xi
xii List of Contributors for Volume 1
K Jazvac S Pyare
University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada University of Alaska, Juneau, AK, United States
B Jennings V Ribé
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden
A Jernelöv NL Rose
Swedish Institute for Futures Studies, Sweden University College London, London, United Kingdom
M Koopman R Scalenghe
Geos Institute, Ashland, OR, United States Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
TE Lacher Jr. AW Schroth
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
States
IG Simmons
MJ Leng University of Durham, Durham, United Kingdom
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, United Kingdom;
G Sofia
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United
Kingdom
W Steffen
A Linnemann
Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University,
Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Stockholm, Sweden
Cornelia Ludwig
K Sundseth
Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University,
NILU–Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller,
Stockholm, Sweden
Norway
AW Mackay
P Tarolli
UCL, London, United Kingdom
PH Madsen
RM Thompson
Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, Denmark
University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia
ZM Migaszewski
RJ Thorne
Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce, Poland
P Mineau Norway
Pierre Mineau Consulting, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada;
K Treyer
Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
E Nehrenheim
JC Veilleux
Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden
Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
EG Pacyna
CN Waters
British Geological Survey, Nottingham, United
Norway
Kingdom; University of Leicester, Leicester, United
JM Pacyna Kingdom
M Whitmore
Norway; AGH–University of Science and Technology,
Imperial War Museum (retired), London, United
Krakow, Poland
Kingdom
H Park
EW Wolff
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, and Rutgers
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United
University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Kingdom
EL Petersen
E Worrell
Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde,
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Denmark
J Zalasiewicz
T Pievani
University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
University of Padua, Padova, Italy
CONTENTS OF ALL VOLUMES
List of Contributors xi
Editor Biographies xxv
Introduction xxix
VOLUME 1: GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND ENERGY

DA DellaSala, MI Goldstein, SA Elias, B Jennings, TE Lacher Jr., P Mineau, and S Pyare

SA Elias
Finding a “Golden Spike” to Mark the Anthropocene 19

SA Elias
Arguments for a formal Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene 29
J Zalasiewicz and CN Waters
The Geomorphology of the Human Age 35

P Tarolli, G Sofia, and Wenfang CAO
The 1950s as the Beginning of the Anthropocene 45

C Ludwig and W Steffen
Sediments of the Anthropocene 57

Historical Overview of the Natural Gas Industry 63

CJ Castaneda
Concrete: The Most Abundant Novel Rock Type of the Anthropocene 75

CN Waters and J Zalasiewicz
Hydrology in the Anthropocene 87

P Bridgewater, E Guarino, and RM Thompson
Fluxes of Trace Metals on a Global Scale 93

RJ Thorne, JM Pacyna, K Sundseth, and EG Pacyna
Impacts of Anthropocene Fossil Fuel Combustion on Atmospheric Iron Supply to the Ocean 103
AW Schroth
Greatly Increased CO2 115

SA Elias
Anthropogenic Soils as the Marker 129

G Certini and R Scalenghe
Plastics in the Ocean 133

SA Elias
xiii
xiv Contents of All Volumes
Evidence in Polar Ice Records 151

EW Wolff
Humanly Modified Ground 157

M Edgeworth
Plastics and the Anthropocene 163

PL Corcoran, K Jazvac, and A Ballent
The Anthropocene—A Potential Stratigraphic Definition Based on Black Carbon, Char, and Soot Records 171
YM Han, ZS An, and JJ Cao
Magnetic Particulates as Markers of Fossil Fuel Burning 179

MW Hounslow
Spheroidal Carbonaceous Fly Ash Particles in the Anthropocene 189

NL Rose
Isotopic Signatures 197

JR Dean, MJ Leng, and AW Mackay
Geochemical Records in Speleothems 205

IJ Fairchild
Chemical Signals of the Anthropocene 213

The Evidence for Human Agency in the Late Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions 219
G Haynes
Editor's Note 227

SA Elias
Increased Acidity of Ocean Waters 233

SA Elias
Loss of Coral Reefs 245

SA Elias
Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event 259

T Pievani
Paleoclimatology 265
SA Elias
Rewilding the Pleistocene Fauna 277

SA Elias
Development of Coal-Fired Steam Technology in Britain 285

M Whitmore
Rise of Airline Transportation After WWII 307

M Whitmore
Environmental Effects of Terrestrial Oil Spills 323

A Jernelöv
Rise in Motorized Transportation and Weapons in the World Wars 337

M Whitmore
Sustainable Energy Development; The Role of Geothermal Power 357

B Davidsdottir
Environmental Issues Associated with Energy Technologies and Natural Resource Utilization 381
V Ribé
City Planning and Energy Use 385

H Park and C Andrews
Contents of All Volumes xv
Energy Use in Food System 397

C Dutilh, H Blonk, and A Linnemann
Introduction to Renewable Energy 405

E Nehrenheim
Wind Farms 407

EL Petersen and PH Madsen
Industrial Energy Use, Status and Trends 421

E Worrell
Environmental Change and Energy 431

IG Simmons
Energy and Natural Resources 441

E Nehrenheim
Combustion to Concentration to Warming: What Do Climate Targets Mean for Emissions?

Climate Change and the Global Carbon Cycle 443
AS Denning
Overview Article for the Geologic History Section 453

SA Elias
Climate Change and Energy 457

SA Elias
Metrics for Greenhouse Gas Equivalence 467

IG Enting
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Energy Systems, Comparison, and Overview 473
C Bauer, K Treyer, T Heck, and S Hirschberg
Water Conflict Case Study – Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam: Turning from Conflict to Cooperation 485
JC Veilleux
Thinning Combined With Biomass Energy Production Impacts Fire-Adapted Forests in Western
United States and May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions 491
DA DellaSala and M Koopman
VOLUME 2: CLIMATE CHANGE

The Anthropocene Climate: Humanity on a Planetary Collision Course 1
DA DellaSala and MI Goldstein
The Carbon Cycle and Global Change: Too Much of a Good Thing 7
DA DellaSala
Glaciers in the Anthropocene: Fighting an Uphill Battle 11

ABG Bush and MP Bishop
Oceans and Global Change: One Blue Planet 17

DA DellaSala
Freshwater and Global Change: Wellspring of Life 21

DA DellaSala
Tropical Rainforests and Climate Change 25

RT Corlett
Primary Forests: Definition, Status and Future Prospects for Global Conservation 31
CF Kormos, B Mackey, DA DellaSala, N Kumpe, T Jaeger, RA Mittermeier, and C Filardi
Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change 43

JS Griffiths and MW Kelly
Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change 51

P Gienapp and J Merilä
xvi Contents of All Volumes
Economics of Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation: Incentives to

Change Forest Use Behavior 61
HJ Albers, KD Lee, and EJZ Robinson
Economics of Sea Level Rise 67

RSJ Tol
Glaciers, Topography, and Climate 71

ABG Bush and MP Bishop
Global Change Impacts on the Biosphere 81

SA Elias
Insects and Climate Change: Variable Responses Will Lead to Climate Winners and Losers 95
SH Black
Cold-Water Fishes and Climate Change in North America 103

JE Williams, DJ Isaak, J Imhof, DA Hendrickson, and JR McMillan
Impacts of Climate Change on Amphibian Biodiversity 113

DP Bickford, R Alford, ML Crump, S Whitfield, N Karraker, and MA Donnelly
Climate Change Effects on Terrestrial Mammals: A Review of Global Impacts of Ecological Niche Decay
in Selected Regions of High Mammal Importance 123
F Huettmann
Marine Mammals: At the Intersection of Ice, Climate Change, and Human Interactions 131
M Castellini
Species Responses to Climate Change: Integrating Individual-Based Ecology Into Community

and Ecosystem Studies 139
E Bestion and J Cote
Conservation Issues: Polar Seas 149

KE Smith
Mass Changes in Antarctica in Response to Changing Climate 159

A Mémin and F Rémy
Conservation issues: Tundra ecosystems 165

SA Elias
Climate Change Challenges for Africa 177

RW Abrams, JF Abrams, and AL Abrams
Impacts of Climate Change in Central Asia 195

B Mannig, F Pollinger, A Gafurov, S Vorogushyn, and K Unger-Shayesteh
Climate Change in South America 205

MM Vale and APF Pires
Climate Change Effects on European Heat Waves and Human Health 209
C Ramis and A Amengual
Impact of Climate Variability and Change on Tropical Cyclones in the South Pacific 217
SS Chand
Climate Change Impacts on Atolls and Island Nations in the South Pacific 227
JR Campbell
Climate Change May Trigger Broad Shifts in North America's Pacific Coastal Rainforests 233
DA DellaSala, P Brandt, M Koopman, J Leonard, C Meisch, P Herzog, P Alaback, MI Goldstein, S Jovan, A MacKinnon,
and H von Wehrden
Ecoregional Planning and Climate Change Adaptation 245

PJ Comer
Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation: A Synthesis 257

RM Gregg, JM Kershner, and LJ Hansen
Contents of All Volumes xvii
Whole Community Adaptation to Climate Change 267

ME Koopman and T Graham
Climate Change Adaptation in Practice: Finding What You Need to Know 277
LJ Hansen
Conservation Issues: Wildlife Connectivity for Climate Change Adaptation 281

PJ Crist
Microrefugia and Climate Change Adaptation: A Practical Guide for Wildland Managers 289
D Olson
Assisted Migration as a Conservation Approach Under Climate Change 301

MH Hällfors, EM Vaara, M Ahteensuu, K Kokko, M Oksanen, and LE Schulman
The Crown of the Continent: A Case Study of Collaborative Climate Adaptation 307
RP Bixler, M Reuling, S Johnson, S Higgins, S Williams, and G Tabor
Supporting Climate-Informed Marine Fisheries Management 317

RM Gregg, A Score, and L Hansen
Taking Action on Climate Change in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem 327
R Nelson, AA Carlson, E Sexton, IW Dyson, and L Hoang
Robust Conservation Planning for Coast Redwood in a Changing Climate 337

DA DellaSala
Global Change 347

DA DellaSala
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative: Robust Conservation and Climate Adaptation

in Action 351
JA Hilty, R Nelson, and WL Francis
Indigenous Knowledge and Practice for Climate Change Adaptation 359

DK Bardsley
Human Footprint Affects US Carbon Balance More Than Climate Change 369
D Bachelet, K Ferschweiler, T Sheehan, B Baker, B Sleeter, and Z Zhu
Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change: All I Need is the Air That I Breathe 387
DA DellaSala
Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks 391

JM Cloy and KA Smith
Human Activities and Climate Change 401

N Khetrapal
Ocean Acidification and Warming: The economic toll and implications for the social cost of carbon 409
J Talberth and E Niemi
Aerosol, Climate, and Sustainability 419

T Banerjee, M Kumar, and N Singh
Climate Change and Health 429

F Thomas
The Impact of Climate Change on Public Health, Human Rights, and Social Justice 435
BS Levy and JA Patz
Lyme Disease Epidemic Increasing Globally Due to Climate Change and Human Activities 441
DA DellaSala, M Middelveen, KB Liegner, and J Luche-Thayer
Climate Change, Food Security, and Population Health in the Anthropocene 453
CD Butler and RA McFarlane
Impacts of Climate Change on Subsistence-Oriented Communities 461

V Savo, D Lepofsky, and K Lertzman
xviii Contents of All Volumes
Impacts of Global Changes in Cities 467

V Masson
The Social Cost of Carbon 475

EG Niemi
UN Convention on Wetlands (RAMSAR): Implications for Human Health 479

H Skov
Denial Versus Reality of Climate Change 487

KM Jylhä
Denial—The Key Barrier to Solving Climate Change 493

H Washington
Cold Facts, Hot Topics, and Uncertain Futures: Political and Industry Responses to Climate Changes
in Greenland 501
C Ren and LR Bjørst
The Law of Climate Change Mitigation: An Overview 505

KF Kuh
Climate Change and Political Instability 511

S Dalby
VOLUME 3: BIODIVERSITY
The Status of Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: Trends, Threats, and Actions 1
TE Lacher Jr and NS Roach
6th Mass Extinction 9

R Wagler
Latitudinal Gradients of Biodiversity: Theory and Empirical Patterns 13

MR Willig and SJ Presley
Conservation Biogeography: Monitoring the Status of Earth's Biota 21

SA Elias
Conservation Biogeography of Ecosystem Services 25

J Cimon-Morin, M Darveau, and M Poulin
Wilderness and Intact Ecosystems 31

CF Kormos, SA Casson, RA Mittermeier, and CE Filardi
Anthropocene: Island Biogeography 37

MR Helmus and JE Behm
Biodiversity and Disturbance 45

MR Willig and SJ Presley
Rise of Human Influence on the World's Biota 53

SA Elias
Biodiversity Hotspots 67
RA Mittermeier and AB Rylands
Modern Threats to the Stability of Biological Communities 77

AS Mori
A Decade of the Resource-Based Habitat Paradigm: The Semantics of Habitat Loss 85

RLH Dennis
Indicators of Anthropogenic Change and Biological Risk in Coastal Aquatic Environments 97

EL Thompson
Trends in Global Biodiversity: Soil Biota and Processes 125

EM Bach and DH Wall
Contents of All Volumes xix
Trends in Biodiversity: Insects 131

DL Wagner
Trends in Biodiversity, Plants 145

SF Oldfield
Trends in Biodiversity: Freshwater 151

KO Winemiller
The Future for Reptiles: Advances and Challenges in the Anthropocene 163
LA Fitzgerald, D Walkup, K Chyn, E Buchholtz, N Angeli, and M Parker
Trends in Biodiversity: Vertebrates 175

M Hoffmann, TM Brooks, SHM Butchart, RD Gregory, and L McRae
Conservation Issues: Temperate Rainforests 185

DA DellaSala
Conservation Issues: Oceanic Ecosystems 193

N Neeman, JA Servis, and E Naro-Maciel
Conservation Issues: Temperate Ocean Regions 203

SA Elias
Biogeographical Shifts and Climate Change 217

JG Molinos, ES Poloczanska, JD Olden, JJ Lawler, and MT Burrows
Biodiversity Response to Habitat Loss and Fragmentation 229

R Pardini, E Nichols, and T Püttker
Dams and River Fragmentation 241

DJ Hoeinghaus
Climate Change and Biodiversity: Impacts 249

L Hannah and A Bird
Novelty in Ecosystems 259

AE Lugo, KM Winchell, and TA Carlo
Invasive Species 273

WE Rogers
Genetic Responses to Rapid Change in the Environment During the Anthropocene 281
DA Tallmon and RP Kovach
Measuring Biodiversity 287

JA Veech
Effective Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring 297

J Schipper and F Rovero
Conserving Biodiversity and Sustaining Ecosystem Services in the Anthropocene: Understanding

the Social–Ecological Legacy of Acid Rain in the Adirondack Park (USA) 305
CM Beier
Tools for Monitoring Global Deforestation 313

C Davis and R Petersen
The Convention on Biological Diversity 321

JA McNeely
The Endangered Species Act 327

MW Schwartz
The IUCN Red List: Assessing Extinction Risk in the Anthropocene 333
TE Lacher and C Hilton-Taylor
Key Biodiversity Areas 341

PF Langhammer, SHM Butchart, and TM Brooks
xx Contents of All Volumes
Biosphere Reserves in the Anthropocene 347

S Stoll-Kleemann and T O’Riordan
NGOs and Biodiversity Conservation in the Anthropocene 355

JMC Da Silva and CM Chennault
The Impacts of Conflict on Biodiversity in the Anthropocene 361

LE Ruyle
The Natural and Social History of the Indigenous Lands and Protected Areas Corridor of the Xingu
River Basin and Prospects for Protection 369
S Schwartzman, B Zimmerman, AV Boas, KY Ono, MG Fonseca, J Doblas, P Junqueira, A Jerozolimski, M Salazar, R Junqueira,
and M Torres
Extinction Risk in the Anthropocene 379

E Polaina and M González-Suárez
Resilience 385
YG Matsinos
Plant Conservation in the Anthropocene: Definitely Not Win–Win But Maybe Not Lose–Lose? 389
S Volis
Conserving Biodiversity by Restoring Ecological Processes 399

LE Ramirez-Yanez, B Miller, and RP Reading
The Growing Importance of Reintroductions and Translocations as Tools for Conservation in an

Age of Rapid Climate Change 405
RP Reading, BJ Miller, and LE Ramirez
Management of Nonnative Invasive Species in the Anthropocene 409

SA Bhagwat
Ecosystem Services in Theory and Practice 419

R Costanza
Market-Based Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation: An Overview of Experience in Developed

and Developing Countries 423
RE Rice
Biomimicry/Bioprospecting 429
AG Valdecasas and QD Wheeler
Conservation Financing—Looking Forward 435

F Hawkins
Climate Change and Biodiversity: Conservation 441

N Shahbol, L Hannah, and TE Lovejoy
Which Way Forward? Past and New Perspectives on Community-Based Conservation in the
Anthropocene 453
L Redmore, A Stronza, A Songhurst, and G McCulloch
Systematic Conservation Planning in the Anthropocene 461

I Lacher
The Future of the Global Commons: A Call for Collective Action 471
N Ishii
VOLUME 4: ETHICS
Environmental Ethics 1
JB Callicott
Finding an Ethical Foundation for Economics in the Anthropocene 11

PG Brown, I Mason, and CG Regehr
Contents of All Volumes xxi
Ethics for the Anthropocene Epoch 21

SH Miles and S Craddock
Sustainability and Resilience 29

M Powers
Anthropocentrism in the Anthropocene 39

J Beever
Climate Change Ethics 45

B Williston
Evolving Moral Status 53

JW Walters and LF Greer
Ecomodernism and the Anthropocene 61

M Sagoff
Transhumanism and Posthumanism 67

J McDonald
Beneficence 75
LR Churchill
Global Justice 81
J Wilson
Liberty: The Future of Freedom on a Resilient Planet 87

B Jennings
Replacing the Anthropocene 95

M Smith
Human Rights in the Anthropocene 103

H Shue
Solidarity 111
R ter Meulen
Virtue 119
M Di Paola
Vulnerability 127
F Luna
Aging in the Anthropocene 137

PJ Whitehouse
Suffering in the Anthropocene Era: Contributions of Phenomenology to Understanding the

World-Constituting Role of Subjectivity 147
MB Morrissey
Cosmology and Ecology 151

S Mickey
Christianity, Perspectives on the Anthropocene 159

NM de S Cameron
Taoism 163
R Kirkland
Judaism and the Anthropocene 169

M LaGrone
Toward a New Humanism in the Age of Anthropogenic Climate Change: On Sylvia Wynter 175
D Kline and TR Cole
Spiritual Ecology 181

LE Sponsel
xxii Contents of All Volumes
Ecosystems and Human Well-Being 185

I Douglas
Endangered Species and Biodiversity 199

H Rolston III
Biodiversity Conservation 205

C Meine
Common Resource Governance 215

LH Berry
Novel Ecosystems: Adaptive Management and Social Values in the Anthropocene 221
BG Norton
Water Ethics 227

A Wellington
Overshoot 239
H Washington
Rewilding 247
D Johns
Estimating Environmental Health Costs: Monetary Valuation of Greenhouse Gases 257

P Watkiss
Global Governance in the Anthropocene 265

K Bosselmann
Earth Jurisprudence 271

B Mylius
Uneconomic Growth 277

CJ Orr
Society 287
DA DellaSala
International Waters: Conflict, Cooperation, and Transformation 291

AT Wolf
Disaster Ethics 301

LM Lee
Pandemics in the Era of the Anthropocene 307

LP Francis
World Human Population Problems 313

D Pimentel and M Burgess
Population: Growth, Decline, and Control 319

MP Battin
Science, Technology, and Society Studies 331

DR Morrison
Synthetic Biology 339

J Boldt
The Use of Biotechnology for Nonhuman Organisms 343

GE Kaebnick
Human Genetic Engineering: Biotic Justice in the Anthropocene? 351

B Gregg
Precautionary Principle: Current Understandings in Law and Society 361

J Hanson
Ecological Risk in the Anthropocene: An Evaluation of Theory, Values, and Social Construct 367
P Kanwar
Contents of All Volumes xxiii
VOLUME 5: CONTAMINANTS
Contaminants in the Age of the Anthropocene 1
P Mineau
Ozone, SOx and NOx, Particulate Matter, and Urban Air 7

P Salvador
Acid Rain: Causes, Consequences, and Recovery in Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Human Systems 23
GE Likens and TJ Butler
Chlorinated Fluorocarbons and Other Ozone-Destroying Chemicals 33

RJ Salawitch
Contamination of Our Oceans by Plastics 43

L Gutow and M Bergmann
The Rise of CO2 and Ocean Acidification 51

P Williamson and S Widdicombe
The Proliferation of Nanomaterials: Possible Health and Environmental Consequences 61

B Jovanovic
Oil Spills in Coastal Wetlands 67

MW Hester, JM Willis, and MC Baker
Metal Pollution 77
GE Millward and A Turner
Groundwater Pollution: Sources, Mechanisms, and Prevention 87

C Postigo, DE Martinez, S Grondona, and KSB Miglioranza
Organochlorine Pesticides, Rachel Carson, and the Environmental Movement 97

I Newton
Organophosphorous and Carbamate Insecticides: Impacts on Birds 105

P Mineau
Systemic Insecticides and Their Environmental Repercussions 111

F Sánchez-Bayo
Pyrethroid Insecticides—Exposure and Impacts in the Aquatic Environment 119

I Werner and TM Young
The Impact of Pesticides on Our Freshwater Resources 127

S Stehle and R Schulz
Organotins: Sources and Impacts on Health and Environment 133

ACA Sousa, S Tanabe, and MR Pastorinho
Atrazine and Amphibians: A Story of Profits, Controversy, and Animus 141

JR Rohr
Roundup Ready! Glyphosate and the Current Controversy Over the World's Leading Herbicide 149
R Mesnage and MN Antoniou
Rodenticides: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 155

RF Shore
The Killing Fields: The Use of Pesticides and Other Contaminants to Poison Wildlife in Africa 161
NL Richards, D Ogada, R Buij, and A Botha
Tetraethyl Lead, Paints, Pipes, and Other Lead Exposure Routes: The Impact on Human Health 169
DC Bellinger
Lead Use in Hunting and Fishing—Consequences to Birdlife, Humans, and the Environment 177
VG Thomas and R Guitart
The Effects of Methylmercury on Wildlife: A Comprehensive Review and Approach for Interpretation 181
D Evers
xxiv Contents of All Volumes
Radionuclides: Sources, Speciation, Transfer and Impacts in the Aquatic and Terrestrial Environment 195
L Skipperud and B Salbu
Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Sources, Fate, Effects on Birds and Mammals, and Mechanisms of Action 207
MEB Bohannon and MA Ottinger
Arsenic: Exposure, Toxicology, Use, and Misuse 215

SJS Flora
Fertilizers and Their Contaminants in Soils, Surface and Groundwater 225

M Nasir Khan, M Mobin, ZK Abbas, and SA Alamri
Environmental Epigenetics: The Envirogenomic Interface 241

J Wilkinson
A Cautionary Tale: Diclofenac and Its Profound Impact on Vultures 247

NL Richards, M Gilbert, M Taggart, and V Naidoo
Contamination From the Agricultural Use of Growth Promoters and Medicines 257
ABA Boxall
Human and Veterinary Drugs in the Environment 263

T Rastogi, WMM Mahmoud, and K Kümmerer
E-waste: Environmental and Health Challenges 269

A Pascale, C Bares, and A Laborde
Index 277
BIOGRAPHIES
Dominick A. DellaSala is president and chief scientist of the Geos Institute in

Ashland, Oregon, and former president of the Society for Conservation
Biology, North America. He is an internationally renowned author of over
200 publications on forest ecology, endangered species, conservation biol-
ogy, and climate change. He has given keynote talks ranging from academic
conferences to the United Nations Earth Summit. He has been featured in
hundreds of news stories and documentaries, testified in the US congress
numerous times, and received conservation leadership and book writing
awards. He is on the editorial board of Elsevier’s Earth Systems and Environ-
mental Sciences as global change editor, coeditor of the Encyclopedia of the
Anthropocene (Elsevier), and subject editor of several scientific journals. He is
motivated by his work to leave a living planet for his daughters and
grandkids, and all those that follow.
Michael I. Goldstein is a planner and biologist for the US Forest Service in

Juneau, Alaska. Mike has worked on many applied management issues across
terrestrial and aquatic systems, addressing pesticides, dispersed recreation,
development, timber harvest, and other forms of resource extraction. Mike is
on the editorial board of Elsevier’s major reference work “Earth Systems and
Environmental Sciences” as the ecology and conservation editor, serves as
coeditor-in-chief of this Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene and coeditor of the
Anthropocene’s Climate Change volume, and subject editor for several scientific
journals. In his spare time, Mike coaches skiing, enjoys fishing and camping
in remote places, and teaching his three children.
xxv
xxvi Biographies
Scott Elias received both an undergraduate degree and a PhD in environ-

mental biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Following post-
doctoral fellowships in Canada and Switzerland he returned to the Institute
of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, where he pur-
sued research in Quaternary paleoenvironments from 1982 to 2000. In 2000
he took a lectureship in Quaternary science in the Geography Department of
Royal Holloway, University of London, where he became professor of Qua-
ternary science in 2007. He has served as editor-in-chief of the first and
second editions of the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, published by Else-
vier. In 2012 he became editor-in-chief of the online Reference Module in Earth
Systems and Environmental Sciences. Scott’s research has focused mainly on the
reconstruction of Late Pleistocene environments from the Alaska, the Rocky
Mountains, and the American Southwest. He retired from Royal Holloway in
2017 and returned to Colorado, where he continues his research in paleoen-
vironments and his editorial duties.
Bruce Jennings is senior fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature, a
nonprofit research center, and associate professor in the Department of
Health Policy and the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt
University. He is also senior advisor and fellow at The Hastings Center, where
he served from 1991 through 1999 as executive director. He is the editor-
in-chief of Bioethics (formerly the Encyclopedia of Bioethics), 4th Edition, 6 vols.
(2014), the standard reference work in the field of bioethics. In addition to
work in bioethics, he has been active in ethics research and education in the
field of public health. He taught ethics at the Yale University School of Public
Health from 1996 to 2014, and he served as member and chair of the Ethics
Advisory Committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) from 2003 to 2009.
At the Center for Humans and Nature, he has focused on environmental
ethics and policy, with a special emphasis on ecological governance and
ecological political economy. He is the editor of the Center’s electronic
journal, Minding Nature, and he is author of Ecological Governance: Toward a
New Social Contract With the Earth (2016). For 12 years until 2014, he was an
elected Trustee in the local government of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, where
he was a leader in sustainability policy and planning.
Thomas E. Lacher, Jr., is full professor in wildlife and fisheries sciences at

Texas A&M University. He has held positions at the University of Brasilia,
Brazil; Western Washington University; Clemson University, where he was
the executive director of the research consortium of the Archbold Tropical
Research Center, and Texas A&M University, where he was professor and
Caesar Kleberg Chair in wildlife ecology in the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries Sciences. From 2002 to 2007 he was at Conservation International,
where he was senior vice-president and executive director of the Center for
Applied Biodiversity Science. He was also department head in WFSC from
2007 to 2011. Lacher has been working in the Neotropics for 40 years, with
field research experience in Dominica, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colom-
bia, Guyana, Suriname, Peru, and Brazil. He has also served on numerous
review panels for NSF and EPA and the Area Advisory Committee for Latin
America for the Fulbright Commission. He has been major advisor of 20 MS
and 17 PhD students and several postdoctoral fellows. His current research is
focused on the assessment of extinction risk in mammals and the analysis
and monitoring of large-scale patterns and trends in mammalian
Biographies xxvii
biodiversity. He is a member of the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group, the IUCN Small Mammal Specialist
Group and serves on the IUCN Red List Committee.
His research experience spans behavioral ecology, population and community ecology and conservation
biology, publishing in journals such as Science, American Naturalist, Ecology, BioScience, Global Ecology and
Biogeography, Diversity and Distributions, Conservation Letters and Conservation Biology.
Pierre Mineau is senior scientist and founder of Pierre Mineau Consulting,

with near 40 years of experience in assessing the environmental risk of
pesticides and other contaminants. Pierre received his BSc from McGill
University in Montreal, and his MSc and PhD from Queens University in
Kingston, Ontario. Most of his working career was with the Canadian
Government, culminating as senior research scientist in environmental
toxicology within the Science and Technology Branch of Environment
Canada (and before that, the Canadian Wildlife Service). For part of that
time, he was intimately involved in the pesticide regulatory process in
Canada as an advisor to the Federal Department of Agriculture. He continues
to hold adjunct professor status at Carleton University in Ottawa. His
research encompasses pesticide toxicology, wildlife conservation in agro-
ecosystems, biomarker development, risk assessment, sustainable agriculture
and anthropogenic sources of avian mortality. He has been an advisor on
pesticide issues and participated in regulatory and legal proceedings in
Canada, the United States, the European Union, and other countries. Pierre
has authored or coauthored over 200 technical papers, book chapters, and
reports, including many seminal analyses of modern pesticide risk assessment, most of them in the peer-
reviewed literature. He has given a large number of presentations at scientific meetings or to governments,
academic institutions, or NGOs. He has had his work featured in several magazines, newspapers, and lay
publications (e.g., Wired, The Ecologist, Audubon, Mother Jones, The Globe and Mail, Cottage Life), and been
interviewed on radio or television in Canada, the United States, and Argentina. Recently, Pierre has been active
in the assessment of neonicotinoid insecticides, a relatively new class of compounds currently being blamed for
losses of honeybees and other pollinators as well as widespread contamination of aquatic systems. He was part
of an IUCN-sponsored task force of international scientists involved in the review of systemic insecticides and
the consequences for agriculture and the environment. With NGOs and commercial partners, he is also
currently working on pesticide risk indicator development for certification, research, and regulatory purposes.
Sanjay Pyare is an associate professor of geography and environmental

science and the coordinator of the Spatial Ecosystem Analysis Lab at the
University of Alaska Southeast. His research interests include spatial analysis
and remote sensing, ecosystem services, integrated ecosystem modeling, and
biogeography. He is leading a multidisciplinary effort to understand ecosys-
tem services in the “icefield to estuary” system of Southeast Alaska. He lives in
Juneau, Alaska, with his wife and two children.
INTRODUCTION: GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND ENERGY
This section of the encyclopedia deals with the geologic record and with energy. It may seem strange that an
encyclopedia focused on the Anthropocene devotes so much attention to geologic history, but there are two
reasons for this. First, in order to put recent and predicted future changes to Earth’s environments in context, it is
vital to establish a baseline from which “normal” conditions have departed. We must answer the following
questions: Has anything like this ever happened before? When was the last time our planet experienced these
conditions? Are the pace and amplitude of environmental changes in the Anthropocene unique in Earth history,
or just the most recent example of recurring cycles of changes? As you will see in the articles presented here, there
are many unique aspects of the environmental changes we are observing in the modern world, especially in the
rate of changes in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere and the corresponding rapid climb in temperatures.
The second reason to bring Geology into a discussion of the Anthropocene concerns the formal classification of
the Anthropocene as a formal geologic epoch. A number of articles in this section present arguments for giving
the Anthropocene formal geological designation.
Articles on energy, especially concerning the development and exploitation of fossil fuels, are also included
in this section. This is fitting because the fossil fuels themselves (coal, oil, natural gas) are products of the
geologic past—formed millions of years ago and are nonrenewable.
Scott Elias
xxix
The Anthropocene: How the Great Acceleration Is Transforming
the Planet at Unprecedented Levels
DA DellaSala, Geos Institute, Ashland, Oregon, United States
MI Goldstein, Surfbird Consulting, Juneau, Alaska, United States
SA Elias, University of London, Egham, United Kingdom
B Jennings, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
TE Lacher Jr., Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
P Mineau, Pierre Mineau Consulting, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada; Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
S Pyare, University of Alaska, Juneau, AK, United States
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Humanity’s Planetary Fingerprints
We all like to celebrate special occasions in our lives: birthdays, holidays, weddings, winning the lottery, and so on. Given that our
genus has survived some 4 million years under conditions much less hospitable than today, we should all be jumping up and down
that we made it this far. Our species is now more than 7 billion strong and still growing in number. We are, arguably, living healthier
lives (at least longer ones) than our great grandparents did 100 years ago and we have more gadgets to play with than we can
imagine. But this has come at an insurmountable price of a degraded planet with consequences often irreversible.
Is the Anthropocene a good thing or are we creating an impending planetary doomsday at our own expense? Should we
celebrate, run for the hills, or cry in our beer?
If you are like us, we read planetary forces like digital indicators on a car’s dashboard—some things are trending up, and a lot—a
real lot—are trending down as we have our ecological footprint on the accelerator. Is it time to panic yet? Build a bomb shelter?
This reference module is published in the volumes of the encyclopedia representing key aspects of the Anthropocene. It is a
compilation of over 250 articles from leading scholars around the world that, like us, are monitoring the dashboard of planet Earth.
The reader can access volumes on Geology, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Contaminants, and Ethics. Here, we editors provide an
overview of the content to pique your interest.
When Did the Anthropocene Start?
Geologists who record major planetary events hotly debate whether the Anthropocene constitutes a distinct geological period
worthy of splitting off from the current Holocene.
In this overview, we assume that the Anthropocene is a proper way of cataloguing humanity’s enormous impacts on a planetary
scale, these being much like the shifting of tectonic plates that marked Earth’s distinct geological periods.
Geologists like to mark the beginning of a geological period using Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (commonly
referred to as “golden spikes”). These are internationally agreed-upon reference points on stratigraphic sections of rock that define
the lower boundaries of stages on a geologic time-scale. Because we humans are living in the period that we now wish to demark, we
cannot simply find a stratigraphic magic marker or drive a single golden spike and say—ok—we arrived at the dawn of a new era.
Instead, we argue that the Anthropocene is the accumulation of golden spikes overtime with a very recent build-up phase (multiple
golden spikes; Fig. 1).
Let us begin with the advent of our first known early relatives—“Ardi” (Ardipithecus ramidus) and “Lucy” (Australopithecus
afarensis). Until recently, the 3 million-year-old Lucy fossil was thought to be the first human ancestor, but she was displaced by
the 4 million-year-old Ardi, both discovered in Ethiopia. Africa, the birthplace of humanity, is why we chose the cover of the
Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene. This is where it all “began,” although clearly human evolution is just one branch on a very large tree
going back to the primordial ooze that spawned all life. But for now, we will assume that the first golden spike—albeit maybe a
small one—was driven millions of years ago in the ancient African cradle from which all humanity regardless of race or color owe
our existence.
Some 2 million years later, the progeny of Ardi and Lucy got smarter as they began to use tools. Using stones and then primitive
axes and cleavers, they manipulated their world and drove another golden spike in the Anthropocene timeline. Tools increasingly
improved and we got really good at hunting, driving the next golden spike into the Anthropocene. Some 50,000 to 11,000 years ago,
our ancestors became the driving force behind the planet’s 5th great extinction event (Sandom et al., 2014). Just about anything with
“giant” in its name was eradicated— giant sloth, giant kangaroo, giant armadillo to name a few of the megafauna extinctions that
took place in South America, North America, Australia, and parts of Asia, but curiously enough, not in Africa.
As we entered the “Neolithic,” some 11,000 years ago, tool development advanced with the advent of agriculture in the Middle
East. Large tracts of forests were cleared, fields plowed, and rivers turned into aqua-ducts to support domestication of a handful of
crops and animals that now put food on our tables.
Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809665-9.09957-2 1

2 The Anthropocene: How the Great Acceleration Is Transforming the Planet at Unprecedented Levels
Fig. 1 Accumulation of “golden spikes” over millions of years of planetary degradation useful in demarking the Anthropocene, particularly the post-World War II
“Great Acceleration.”
As we follow the advancement of tools, the Industrial Revolution (1750–1900) drove its spike as machinery improved to process
goods and services at an accelerated rate, powered by the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil).
These advancements ushered in life’s many comforts: plumbing, warm homes, and more effective medicines. Humanity began
to flourish in big numbers as we drove our first major population spike at 1 billion (1804). It took another 123 years (1927) to get
to the 2 billionth spike. Then only 33 years to drive the 3 billion (1960) spike, and even less to 4 billion (1974), 5 billion (1987), 6
billion (1999), 7 billion (2011), and, at this rate (even though it is decelerating) we are expected to reach the 8 billion spike by
2024. Additional spikes came with the first atomic bomb (1945), the introduction of plastics, and widespread, mechanized
agriculture in the developing world (1950s). These massive changes are further depicted in the volumes of this encyclopedia.
While the Anthropocene is really a continuum of golden spikes, it is clear that the “Great Acceleration” ramped up sometime
after WW II with explosive population growth, human technological advancement, increased life expectancy, and unsustainable
consumption of finite ecosystems.
Clearly, we are now the dominant force on the planet. How we got there is no single event, but rather an accumulation of events
that have now positioned the Anthropocene to push planetary boundaries beyond the level needed to support us and myriad other
species. Where this will end up is anyone’s guess, but if we do not change course soon, the next big golden spike may mark a
completely novel and uncertain existence for humanity. What will we become? How far will our technology go? What will our
species and our planet look like in 100 years, 1000 years, over the course of the next millennia?
Notably, in January 2017, the world’s Doomsday Clock, which is kept by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, got 30 s closer to
midnight, just 2½ symbolic minutes to global destruction. One of the reasons for the clock ticking closer to midnight, and the
closest it’s been since the Cold War of the 1950s is because of America’s declaration to expand its nuclear arsenal with the potential
for another arms race.
Geology
The evidence from the air, land, and sea is unequivocal: we are living in a time that is remarkably distinct from all previous human
history. Human impacts began to reshape the world’s biota toward the end of the last Ice Age, when human hunters played a
significant role in the extinction of megafauna on four continents. Shortly thereafter, an even greater biological alteration took place
as people began to settle in villages and take up farming as a means of subsistence. This process started as early as 11,000 years ago in
the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East, and launched the wholesale clearance of natural vegetation for the sake of agriculture
and animal husbandry. The temperate regions of the world were the first to come under the plow, and by the middle of the 20th
century, this conversion of natural into agricultural landscapes had spread even to the tropical rain forests. The pace and intensity of
human-caused environmental impacts on the planet changed dramatically in the 1950s, so this is clearly the most sensible
boundary horizon for the beginning of the Anthropocene. Industrial and other technological advancements were growing at a
similar pace to the human population.
Provision of food and water began to take ever-increasing amounts of land out of natural ecosystems and into agricultural and
industrial production. Roads were created to give access to all but the most remote corners of the world. Agricultural chemicals
(fertilizers and pesticides) facilitated the “Green Revolution” that helped feed the world’s teaming human population, but at the
terrible price of polluting both land and sea. Little or no attention was paid to pollution problems until the 1970s, and even now
there is tremendous “push back” on the part of pro-business politicians the world over, seeking to weaken or revoke environmental
protection laws. In less than a century, the accumulation of plastics and other waste products is now a definitive marker of the
Anthropocene that is pushing the limits of ecosystems (Fig. 1).
Climate Change
Delving a little bit further into our changing climate, for over 10,000 years, humanity has prospered in the “sweet-spot” of the
Holocene post-glacial climate that allowed agriculture to begin terra-forming much of the planet.
Over millennia, the planet has gone through myriad climate changes that have triggered extinction events and caused shifts in
distributions of species and ecosystems. Under anthropogenic climate change the “velocity of climate change” is much faster than
that which many species can adapt to. Another major difference today is how humanity’s ecological footprint now stands in the way
of a species migrating in search of suitable climates and habitats. During the last major climate change event, there were no roads,
dams, clearcuts, cities, or other myriad human disturbances blocking species movements.
This double whammy of unprecedented land-use working in concert with climate change affects species population size and
distribution. In short, rapid climate change is not some “environmental problem” but a planetary alteration affecting all systems—
human and ecological. And every continent is impacted, particularly the northern latitudes that feel the extremes of climate change.
It is believed that time still exists to reverse direction of this rapid change. The primary discussion today is how to mitigate
greenhouse gas emissions by switching to clean, renewable energies and by storing atmospheric carbon in ecosystems. However,
even if we stopped all emissions today, greenhouse gasses have long atmospheric “hang-times” and their effects will be felt for
decades to centuries. Effective strategies include coupling mitigation with adaptation of species and human communities to avoid
some of the inevitable consequences already underway as discussed in the climate change volume.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is a concept that is useful for thinking about life on Earth, as it encompasses the full spectrum of organismal interactions
in their environment. One of the most commonly accepted definitions is “the complete range of species and biological commu-
nities, as well as the genetic variation within species and ecosystem processes” (Primack, 2014). The definition is logically satisfying
but impossible to fully measure and quantify. Therefore, much of the research to measure, monitor, and manage for biodiversity
focuses on species, and our attempts to evaluate the status of biodiversity often devolves to assessing trends in species abundance
and richness. This oversimplification of the complexity of biodiversity requires caution. However, it does allow us to analyze trends
in biodiversity over time. What has happened in the past can provide insights into the trends we might project forward in the
Anthropocene.
The planet has experienced mass extinction in the past, and dates of approximate occurrence, in millions of years ago (MYA)
include the Ordovician-Silurian (440 MYA), the Late Devonian (365 MYA), the Permian-Triassic (250 MYA), the Triassic-Jurassic
(210 MYA), and the Cretaceous-Tertiary (65.5 MYA). The Permian extinction was by far the most destructive, eliminating 96% of
marine species and 70% of terrestrial species. Eventually there was a recovery of diversity on Earth, but it took over 10 million years
to occur. The latter two events opened the way for the explosive radiation of dinosaurs (Triassic-Jurassic), followed by their
subsequent near extinction and the emergence of mammals (Cretaceous-Tertiary, also referred to as the K-T extinction). In all
cases, there were significant impacts not only on species but also on ecosystems, their associated processes; their recovery measured
in millions of years.
The Anthropocene has been called the beginning of the sixth mass extinction, with great concern over the loss of key species and
cascading impacts on the functioning of entire ecosystems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) presented data that
suggest the current extinction rates are 1000 times higher than the fossil extinction rate, and future projections could run 10 times
higher than the present rate. Even within developing countries with strong conservation programs the rates are greatly accelerated.
Extinction rates of North American freshwater fish, for example, were estimated at 877 times above the background extinction rate
(Burkhead, 2012).
Thus, evidence is mounting that we might indeed be at the cusp of greatly accelerated extinction rates; however this time the
process will not be caused by asteroid impacts or volcanic activity: it will be driven by the expanding global impacts of humans.
The drivers of these extinctions are well known. They include habitat degradation fragmentation, and loss, largely driven by the
expansion of agriculture that now covers about 50% of the habitable landmass of the Earth. Vitousek et al. (1986) estimated that
over 20 years ago we had already co-opted 40% of global net primary productivity for human use. In addition to crops, we have
altered forested ecosystems (not converted into agriculture) by managing forests for wood and fiber. Forests are converted into
sterile monocultures, often using exotic species that support only a fraction of their original biodiversity. Other drivers of habitat
loss include mining, urbanization, and the complex network of roads that connect the ever-expanding number of population
centers or resource exploration and exploitation sites; these roads have greatly fragmented landscapes across the globe (Ibisch et al.,
2016). The continued construction of dams fragments freshwater river systems much as roads have sliced up terrestrial habitats, and
many of the most damaging dams are being developed in the world’s major tropical river basins (Winemiller et al., 2016). These
dams not only threaten species with extinction; they also alter the ecosystem processes of entire drainage systems.
Invasive species and invasive pathogens have also taken their toll on native ecosystems. Plants like purple loosestrife (Lythrum
salicaria), water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes), and salt cedar (Tamarix ramosissima) have damaged and degraded wetlands and
riparian areas throughout areas of North America. The Nile perch (Lates niloticus) was introduced to Lake Victoria to enhance
commercial fisheries, but the species is a voracious predator and quickly decimated the endemic cichlids found in the lake. Some
estimates place upward of 200 species now either extinct or near extinction. The expansion of the invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena
polymorpha) to the Great Lakes and the Hudson Valley results in annual management and control costs of $500 million/year. The
Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) invasion of Guam devastated the native bird fauna, and the unwise introduction of European
rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) to Australia resulted in control costs of over $500 million/year. Finally, perhaps the most dangerous
and pervasive invasive species are plant and animal pathogens. From the Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) and Dutch elm
disease (Ophiostoma novo-ulmi) to chytrid fungus on frogs and white nose syndrome in bats, these introduced pathogens cause
devastating ecological and economic impacts. Further, public health officials chase invasive zoonotic diseases across the globe,
hoping to contain the likes of SARS, West Nile virus, and the Zika virus before widespread human pandemics occur.
As indicated throughout the volumes of this encyclopedia, climate change is the big unknown regarding the future of
biodiversity, and is clearly the most problematic child of the Anthropocene with all of its cumulative impacts. As populations
grow and per capita consumption or resources increases, our reliance on energy has increased. We have relied for over 100 years on
burning things to generate this energy, from firewood to fossil fuels. The processes associated with climate change are described in
this Introduction; however there are several points concerning specific impacts on biodiversity that merit mention. Most impor-
tantly, we are changing the process of evolution by modifying one of the most important drivers of natural selection: the climate.
Climate drives species to alter their timing of reproduction, such as plants flowering earlier or birds nesting sooner. Not all
organisms can respond to temperature changes; however, as many use photoperiod as the timing cue, so species within ecological
communities often respond in much different ways to a warming climate. Thus, we have started to see the development of novel
ecological communities over a relatively short period (Williams et al., 2007), a process that will have unknown consequences to
biodiversity and ecosystem functions. In addition, species are moving on the landscape, changing their distributions in response to
temperature, seasonality, or precipitation regimes. This compounds issues associated with the novel ecosystems and their processes.
We face great uncertainty as a result of our changing climate, and the impacts that this will have on the important ecosystem services
we rely on, and which have become a key point in international conservation conventions and agreements, are undefined (Perrings
et al., 2010). Climate change affects all aspects of biodiversity and, lest we forget, we are part of this biodiversity.
Contaminants
The Anthropocene has seen a massive industrialization of natural chemicals and the proliferation of synthetic chemicals that
fundamentally change our everyday lives; whereas manufacturing of these products may aid and assist human populations, the
by-products result in undesirable outcomes for our environment. This “chemical era” that is the Anthropocene has paralleled our
dependence on petroleum hydrocarbons and the rise in greenhouse gas production. Petroleum has been the source of the necessary
feedstock that has allowed the massive production of most synthetic chemicals, including the now omnipresent polymers such as
plastics. By the 1950s, oil had replaced coal as the most important fuel for human endeavors as new chemical substances were
invented and produced at an unprecedented rate. A June 2015 press release from the American Chemical Society (ACS) announced
its 100 millionth chemical abstract service’s (CAS) registration. This is believed to be the best estimate of the number of identified
chemical substances worldwide. The ACS has registered a new chemical substance every 2.5 min for the last 50 years. About three
quarters of the 100 million have been added in the last decade, so the rate of discovery is growing at an exponential rate.
It should come as a no surprise that many of these chemicals come to be environmental contaminants. The very characteristics
that made many of these chemicals desirable to their inventers—e.g. the chemical stability of a PCB molecule, a fluorocarbon, or
plastic polymer; the biological activity of a pesticide or synthetic drug—has meant that they are often long-lived in the environment
and potentially problematic down the road. Even when short lived, they are able to affect far more than the intended customer or
recipient; this is now clear from the proliferation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in our waterways.
It is also evident from the above statistics that humankind has been playing catch-up in understanding the consequences of these
chemical introductions. Several will trace the birth of the modern environmental movement to the Anthropocene as concerns over
our “chemical world” were added to what had hitherto been a conservation-oriented environmental movement. At the same time
that Rachel Carson was writing her seminal treatise “Silent Spring” to warn humanity of the dangers of persistent and toxic
pesticides, the American author Charles Webb in his book (and later a movie of the same name) “The Graduate” was telling the
post-World War II (boomer) generation that the future could be summed up in one word: “plastics.”
Unfortunately, as new anthropogenic contaminants are born at a frightening rate, old ones are slow to be retired. Contaminants
first recognized at the dawn of human civilization—such as lead, arsenic or mercury—continue to run havoc in many areas of the
globe as a result of slow and inadequate controls. Corporate, commercial, and financial interests are behind most horror stories of
environmental contamination and the concomitant impact on human and wildlife populations. Despite a few notable successes
such as reductions in transboundary acid precipitation and the Montreal Protocol for the protection of high altitude ozone, it could
be argued that regulatory systems have been totally ineffectual and remain beholden to industrial interests. With the advent of
regulatory bodies (such as the Environmental Protection Agency and others around the world) has come a concerted and well-
funded effort on the part of industry to control and dominate the regulatory agenda and forestall regulatory reforms for as long as
possible. As stated by the European Environment Agency (2013):
Several references and leaked documents have shown that some regulated parties have consciously recruited reputable scientists, media experts and
politicians to call on if their products are linked to a possible hazard. Manufacturing doubt, disregarding scientific evidence of risks and claiming over-
regulation appear to be a deliberate strategy for some industry groups and think tanks to undermine precautionary decision-making.
Industry tactics aimed at discrediting their environmental critics, whether a Rachel Carson or Robert Van Den Bosh for their stand
on the indiscriminate use of pesticides; a Yandell Henderson or Clair C. Patterson for exposing the harm of leaded gasoline; or a
Tyrone Hayes for linking the herbicide atrazine to amphibian abnormalities, have run a consistent course throughout the
Anthropocene.
In his thorough analysis of the momentous (and subsequently disastrous for public health) decision of adding tetra-ethyl lead to
gasoline, Loeb (1999) argues that the tetra-ethyl lead decision essentially paved the way for a science policy that shunned controls
where economic benefits were large and certain in the face of uncertain threats to public health. Despite a brief period of optimism
that saw the “precautionary principle” being expounded in the Rio declaration of 1992, the following decades have seen
governments under pressure by industrial interests (Sachs, 2011). It is noteworthy that, in their analysis of the dire consequences
of ignoring early predictions of risk, the European Environment Agency documented many cases where delays in regulation or
legislation had proved incredibly costly and/or damaging: asbestos, PCBs, halocarbons, di-ethyl silbestrol (DES) etc. . . but had
difficulty identifying cases where regulatory actions in the face of early warnings had been in error (European Environment Agency,
2001). Only a very few cases were highlighted in their subsequent report (European Environment Agency, 2013) showing that the
risk of overregulation should not be an excuse for a failure to act early on perceived threats to health or the environment.
The aforementioned tetra-ethyl lead decision also ushered in the mistaken view that industry could and would regulate itself
voluntarily. Loeb (1999) believes that the old paradigm of “industry knows best” is alive and well in political circles. Thus, it is not
surprising that inadequate, inconsistent, and confused environmental and public health protection defines the Anthropocene.
Ethics
Seen as a new epoch in Earth history, the Anthropocene is distinguished by human activities that are shaping the physical and
biological systems and processes on a global scale. The ethical significance of the Anthropocene is paradoxical. During the
Anthropocene, particularly the last century, the distinctive intelligence, creativity, and social and technological organization of
our species have allowed the population to increase and the quality of life to improve over time. Yet the ethical value or goodness of
these human gains has come at the ethical cost of many destabilizing and deleterious consequences for other forms of life,
ecosystems, and geophysical and geochemical systems. Today it is clear that these destructive consequences are increasing so rapidly
that they may come to undermine future human progress and quality of life, the principal ethical rationales upon which they rest.
Human artifice, technology, and environmental pollution have pushed human activity up against the boundaries of planetary
conditions that have been characteristic of the Holocene epoch. As also discussed in the Geology volume, the Holocene has been
quite a hospitable time in the history of the planet—mammalian life has flourished amid its climate and flora, and the human
species owes its own flourishing and development to that hospitality. We are on the verge of repaying that gift with ingratitude and
betrayal. The ethical challenge of the Anthropocene is to discover how to use human creativity for human betterment in ways that
are sustainable, respectful of human dignity and equality, and compatible with the value and resilience of all life.
Ethics is the study of right and wrong; good and bad; positive, valuable states of the world and negative, harmful ones. It is an
interdisciplinary study today, drawing on writings and modes of research from philosophy, theology, law, the social sciences, and
the humanities. Ethics includes the descriptive study of human cultural beliefs and rules concerning right and wrong and the
prescriptive and conceptual task of determining which beliefs and rules are philosophically justified (Gert and Gert, 2016). Often
referred to as normative ethics, this second form of inquiry investigates the modes of rational thinking and judgment that could be
used to determine whether behavior that is taken to be justified in a given society should be considered justified and on what
grounds. Normative ethics seeks rational, consistent, impartial, and universal criteria for ethical justification.
In Western ethics, the normative grounding for ethically right conduct has been typically sought by considering four factors,
including the: (1) inherent nature of actions (Is it intrinsically wrong to perform certain acts?); (2) consequences of actions (Is the
act beneficial or harmful in its effects, and to whom?); (3) motivations or character dispositions of the agent performing actions (Is
the action virtuous?); and (4) context within which motivations, acts, and consequences take place (Is the action part of a pattern of
life that on the whole permits meaning and flourishing or degradation and waste?).
A substantial portion of the Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene has been devoted to articles designed to analyze the ethical and value
dimensions of the relationship between humans and nature on a planetary scale. This underscores both the multifaceted meanings
that the idea of the Anthropocene has acquired and the fact that a purely scientific and technical treatment of this distinctive epoch
would be incomplete (Hamilton et al., 2015). Consider anthropogenic climate change. Scientific knowledge and empirical research
are clearly fundamental to that phenomenon and to what will be done concerning it in the future. However, climate change is a
problem of such magnitude, complexity, and political difficulty that it has been aptly characterized as a “perfect moral storm”
(Gardiner, 2011). It challenges the meaning of our traditional ethical and normative concepts, and our psychological and social
capacity to respond to moral principles through effective individual or collective action. In prospect is the difficulty of making the
required economic and institutional changes and transitions, many of which involve expending present wealth on mitigation and
adaptation efforts that will have future benefit.
In this respect, climate change is but one instance of the disturbing message that science is carrying to society about the
Anthropocene as a whole. An ethical maxim that is universally acknowledged holds that with great power comes great moral
responsibility. For humankind today this entails a collective responsibility, and arguably significant individual responsibility as
well, for the ways its planet-shaping power is used. In other words, we need to be able to think about our ethical responsibilities and
about matters of right and wrong on a planetary scale, taking into consideration both systems and patterns of activity and specific
instances of individual agency and decision.
The Anthropocene presents a new situation of planetary tolerances and ethical constraints; that is the truth of this epoch, but it is
an exceedingly inconvenient truth. It is difficult to face a responsibility that will, if taken seriously and acted upon, shake up
unquestioned habits of social living and transform the scope of economic and political freedom. Those who profess to deny the
findings of climate science are in fact distressed and paralyzed by the ethical implications of what science is telling them. For those
who do embrace the responsibility to devise new ways of living and new economic and technological regimes, two rather different
ethical responses exist. These opposing responses tend to center on the nature of right relationship with nature and on how science
and technology ought to be brought to bear to fulfill the ethical responsibility the Anthropocene places on shoulders of our species.
One response is to alter our contemporary values and priorities and restrain the motivations, goals, and uses of technology that
extract natural resources and produce destructive waste products, such as atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, that are under-
mining the living planet. This viewpoint maintains that we should restrain our technological power, and the acquisitive desires that
propel it, and instead see ourselves as creaturely good citizens of the biotic community. Technology, which is largely dependent on
fossil carbon energy, should be curtailed. Only in this way can the pace and scale of human extractive and polluting economic
activity be kept within sustainable bounds, even after a transition to a new energy system based on renewable sources and net-zero
utilization systems is made.
Another response is to push our previously destructive technological prowess further so as to make it ecologically beneficial.
Through further technological innovation humankind can repair and enhance ecosystems so that they will be less susceptible to
human stressors and more resilient in future interactions with our rapacious species. On this view, humans should see themselves
not as nature’s citizens and trustees, but as nature’s designing architects, fashioning better forms of synthetic life and genetically
driving evolution in better ways through anthropogenic selection. Fulfillment of human needs can be done without drawing so
heavily on resources offered by natural systems. Ethical responsibility calls upon humanity to seek technological innovation, and
the enhancement of the natural with the artificial, not to restrain it.
The articles in the section of the encyclopedia devoted to ethics represent the dialogue and debate between these two broad
perspectives, each of which draws lessons concerning ethical responsibility from the Anthropocene reality, but prescribe different
practical approaches for the near-term future. These articles reflect a spectrum of viewpoints concerning how best to understand the
nature of the ethical responsibility concerning the ecological and planetary effects of the use of human power. They also confront
the question of how much of a discontinuity in cultural, philosophical, and religious traditions is presented by the new Anthro-
pocene awareness and earth systems science. Will it be possible to revise traditional values and norms, such as liberty and human
rights or beneficence and virtue, so that they guide behavior in ways that are appropriate for new conditions for the survival and
flourishing of life, including human life? If not, what new kinds of values and moral ideas will be developed to take the place of
outmoded and displaced notions?
Articles on key concepts such as beneficence, jurisprudence, justice, rights, liberty, obligation, solidarity, and virtue wrestle with
this question. Other articles look at new ways of understanding reality that can be helpful for life in the Anthropocene by drawing
on major religious traditions, such as Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Taoism, or by drawing on thinking in cosmology and
contemporary forms of spirituality. Still others focus on specific experiences that human beings may encounter in the future and
ethical ways to respond to them such as, aging, disasters and public health emergencies, pandemics and infectious disease,
population control, assessing risk, experiencing vulnerability, and suffering.
Finally, several articles address the implications of the Anthropocene perspective for past work in environmental and conser-
vation ethics and bioethics, including adaptive ecosystem management, water management, biodiversity conservation, ecological
governance, precaution, and biotechnologies.
Conclusions
The natural world, as it was even 50 years ago, is rapidly vanishing. That is the take-home message of the Anthropocene. We are
ostensibly intelligent enough to invent new technologies designed to more efficiently clear forests to make way for cattle ranches,
developments, vast tree and palm oil plantations; create more durable plastics that will take thousands of years to decompose; and
develop more sophisticated ways of extracting fossil fuels. Predictably, we often always do not have the foresight to comprehend the
consequences of our actions, until a nuclear-powered electrical generator plant melts down, or the biota inhabiting the lakes of an
entire region die from acid rain, or until iconic animal species (many megafauna) are poised on the knife-edge of extinction.
In the face of such catastrophic human impacts on the planet, do official names for an era really matter? Whether historical
geologists and stratigraphers accept the Anthropocene as a legitimate geological period is almost irrelevant in the face of this human
despoiling of the planet. Imagine a group of geologists attempting to steer a flimsy wooden boat down a river full of rapids and
boulders. When the inevitable happens, and a large boulder tears a hole in the bottom of the boat, the geologists could spend the
next few minutes debating whether that particular boulder was made of granite, shale, or basalt, but they would be much better off
taking action to keep the boat from sinking!
Thus, it will not matter to most people whether we affix a geologic period name to the modern era, except that we humans seem
to have an inherent need to pigeon-hole the world around us, in order to make sense of it. The word “Anthropocene” should serve as
a red flag, warning the human race that we must focus our energies and resources to change the way we do things, before we make
the world uninhabitable for our fellow creatures, and, ultimately, for future generations to come.
See also: Basis for Establishment of Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs; Finding a “Golden Spike” to Mark the Anthropocene.
References
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European Environment Agency (2001) Late lessons from early warnings: The precautionary principle 1896–2000. Environmental Issue Report 22: 209 pp. www.eea.europa.eu/
publications/environmental_issue_report_2001_22.
European Environment Agency (2013) Late lessons from early warnings: Science, precaution, innovation. EEA Report 1: www.eea.europa.eu/publications/late-lessons-2, 760 pp.
Gardiner SM (2011) A perfect moral storm: The ethical tragedy of climate change. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gert B and Gert J (2016) The definition of morality. In: Zalta EN, et al. (eds.) The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Stanford: Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/
spr2016/entries/morality-definition/.
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status. Science 354(6318): 1423–1427.
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Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and human well being: Synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Perrings C, et al. (2010) Ecosystem services for 2020. Science 330: 323–324.
Primack RB (2014) Essentials of conservation biology, 6th edn. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
Sachs NM (2011) Rescuing the strong precautionary principle from its critics. University of Illinois Law Review 2011: 1285–1338.
Sandom C, Faurby S, Sandel B, and Suenning JC (2014) Quarternary megafauna extinctions linked to humans, not climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. https://doi.org/
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Relevant Websites
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/anthropocene/.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/kolbert-text.
https://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/category/anthropocene-2/.
http://anthropocene.info/.
http://info.craftechind.com/blog/bid/392608/Plastic-Manufacturing-Past-Present-and-Future.
Basis for Establishment of Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs
SA Elias, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, United Kingdom
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
A great deal of debate is currently going on among geologists, concerning the legitimacy of the Anthropocene as a geologic epoch.
This topic is discussed at great length in other articles of this section, but it is worth taking a step back from the controversy, and
considering the history and current rules of establishment of formal divisions in geologic history of the planet. It is probably fair to
say that no one paid much attention to this subject until about 400 years ago. Prior to that, religious belief—not science—governed
the way people in Europe thought about geologic history. The development of the scientific disciplines in the late 18th and 19th
centuries was a time when people started to try to make sense of the world around them by classifying and categorizing nature.
It appears that the human mind can make better sense of the world if it can pigeon-hole the rocks, soils, bodies of water, plants, and
animals of the planet. In the biological sciences, the classification breakthrough came with Carl von Linné, the Swedish botanist
who developed the system of binomial nomenclature. In this classification system, the first part of the name identifies the genus to
which the species belongs and the second part identifies the species within that genus. When Linnaeus (the Latinized version of
Linné) published his book, Systema Naturae in 1758, he divided organisms into two kingdoms: the Animal Kingdom and the Plant
Kingdom. His classification scheme was based on five levels: kingdom, class, order, genus, and species. He gave scientific names to
about 10,000 species of plants and animals, including most of the common species known from Europe at that time. Another vital
concept in the biological sciences is the use of type specimens in museums. Type specimens are generally set aside by the person
(author) who named the species. These specimens typify the species, and are carefully preserved in museum collections so that
future researchers will have access to the established, bona fide representative. Interestingly, geologists adopted this concept when
they started designating type localities for the beginning or end of geologic periods and epochs.
In one sense, all classification schemes devised by humans to describe the natural world are artificial constructs. They are models
of nature—not nature itself. No model is perfect. In other words, we do not and cannot know everything about nature; we can only
describe it as best we can, and then be prepared to modify our classification schemes when new data come to light. For instance,
some corrections to biological classification schemes based on physical characteristics have had to be made after species’ genomes
were worked out in recent decades. In most cases, these corrections to previous classifications have been relatively minor. So even if
our classification models are imperfect, they can still be instructive. They help us make sense of the natural world. As such, the
classification schemes of 18th and 19th century scientists were a vital step forward for all the natural sciences. What follows is a
description of how geologists developed their classification scheme for the rock formations of the planet.
History of Establishing Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs
At the beginning of the 19th century, science itself was rapidly changing. Up until that time, scholars who performed scientific
research were mostly generalists who dabbled in many different fields. They looked upon themselves as natural historians, studying
the workings of the natural world, as their whimsy led them. The early 19th century saw the beginnings of specialization in science.
As the level of scientific knowledge was rapidly increasing, it was no longer possible for individual scholars to keep abreast of all the
new discoveries. People began to devote their time and energy to one or just a few lines of research. This new, focused style of
scientific study brought great leaps forward for science as a whole (Elias, 2013).
Until the Renaissance, Europeans held to the literal beliefs of the biblical book of Genesis and considered that the Earth had been
created in 6 days—intact and complete, with no subsequent changes except those brought about by the flood survived by Noah.
As we shall see, the concept that the planet is not immutable, and that the geologic processes observed today have shaped the rock
formations exposed around the world, was slow to take shape.
The first people who studied the geological relationships between different rock units were miners, since their success was based
on their ability to extract valuable minerals from otherwise worthless bedrock formation. In the 1500s and 1600s, the fledgling
European interest in natural history included the first systematic studies of relationships between rock types. The observations of
mining engineers were key to the establishment of systematic geology. One of the pioneers in this endeavor was the Danish natural
historian, Nicolas Steno (Fig. 1). In 1669, he described two basic geologic principles. The first stated that sedimentary rocks are laid
down in a horizontal manner, and the second stated that younger rock units were deposited on top of older rock units. Half a
century later, an Italian mining engineer, Giovanni Arduino (1714–95), distinguished four orders of strata comprising all of Earth’s
history: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary. Arduino (Fig. 1) distinguished four separate stages or “orders” which he
recognized on the basis of very large strata arranged one above the other. These four “orders” were expressed regionally in Italy, as
the Atesine Alps, the Alpine foothills, the sub-Alpine hills, and the Po River plain, respectively. This classification scheme did not
stand the test of time, but it established an important principle (University of California, Berkeley, 2016).
Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809665-9.09997-3 9

10 Basis for Establishment of Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs
Fig. 1 Natural historians who helped establish the principles of geology.
Near the end of the 18th century, a British natural historian, James Hutton (Fig. 1), published a book entitled “Concerning the
System of the Earth, its Duration and Stability.” This book contained a better-defined set of geologic principles, based on the
following observation: “The solid parts of the present land appear in general, to have been composed of the productions of the sea,
and of other materials similar to those now found upon the shores.”
Based on this, he concluded the following (Hutton, 1795):
1. That the land on which we rest is not simple and original, but that it is a composition, and had been formed by the operation of
second causes.
2. That before the present land was made, there had subsisted a world composed of sea and land, in which were tides and currents,
with such operations at the bottom of the sea as now take place.
3. That while the present land was forming at the bottom of the ocean, the former land maintained plants and animals; at least the
sea was then inhabited by animals, in a similar manner as it is at present.
Hutton thus concluded
that the greater part of our land, if not the whole had been produced by operations natural to this globe; but that in order to make this land a permanent
body, resisting the operations of the waters, two things had been required: 1st, The consolidation of masses formed by collections of loose or incoherent
materials; 2ndly, The elevation of those consolidated masses from the bottom of the sea, the place where they were collected, to the stations in which
they now remain above the level of the ocean.
This concept, now known as “Uniformitarianism,” was amplified by British geologist Charles Lyell (Fig. 1) in the early 1800s.
This was the idea that natural geologic processes were uniform in frequency and magnitude throughout time.
Once this principle became established in the 19th century, natural historians and budding geologists began to classify rock
types and attempt to place them in an order. The guiding principle of this classification scheme was that the oldest rocks would have
either no signs of fossil life, or the most primitive forms of life (i.e., evidence of one-celled plants or animals). The founder of this
concept was English geologist, William Smith (Fig. 1), who was a surveyor and engineer who worked on road and canal projects,
and mines. His work gave him ample opportunity for observing rock strata and collecting fossils, and he started arranging his fossil
collection according to what we would now call their stratigraphic horizons. In 1799 he devised a table listing the different types of
rock strata of southern England, along with their characteristic fossils. He then embarked on the huge project of trying to identify
and enter on a colored map the strata of the whole of southern Britain. This single-handed, hand-painted, map was issued in 1815.
But the intellectual elite of the Geological Society (founded 1807) hardly gave him credit for this, even though their subsequent map
made use of some of his results.
Fig. 2 The geologic eras and periods showing major biological and environmental characteristics of the periods and the authors and dates of their
formal description.
The major subdivisions (eras) of the stratigraphic column (Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic) were proposed by John Phillips
in 1840 (Fig. 2). The Paleozoic, or “time of ancient life,” was defined as the first geologic era, characterized by the development of
the earliest forms of life visible in the fossil record, including the first fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and land plants. The Mesozoic, or
“middle geologic era,” was characterized by the development and extinction of the dinosaurs and the development of the first birds,
mammals, and flowering plants. The Cenozoic, or “recent geologic era,” was characterized as the time of the full development of
birds, mammals, and flowering plants.
The Paleozoic Era is subdivided into six periods: the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian.
The entire era spans about 300 million years and saw the development of life from marine invertebrates in the earliest stages
(Cambrian) through to the development of bony fish, amphibians, and the first large reptiles on land (Permian). The Mesozoic Era
is divided into three periods, all characterized by the rise and increasing dominance of dinosaurs on land, but the first flowering
plants and mammals also arose toward the end of the era. The Cenozoic Era is divided into the Tertiary and Quaternary Periods—
the only remnants of Arduino’s classification scheme. The Cenozoic is characterized by the dominance of mammals and angio-
sperms on land.
One might have thought that the designation of geologic eras would have led to the creation of subdivisions (periods) within the
eras, but actually it was the other way around. As shown in Fig. 2, most of the geologic periods were named in the 1820s and 1830s,
a decade or more before Phillips proposed the geologic eras. It is also useful to note that the scientists who proposed geologic eras
and periods had no idea of the age of the deposits they were describing—only their stratigraphic position in relation to one another
(i.e., the Cambrian comes before the Ordovician, the Triassic comes before the Jurassic, etc.). It was not until the early 20th century
Fig. 3 Geological epochs of the Tertiary Period showing major biological and environmental characteristics of the epochs.
that any absolute dates could be ascribed to the various eras and periods. This was made possible by the discovery of radioactive
elements, and their rates of decay, including the work of Arthur Holmes. During the 19th century, geologists generally rejected the
church’s view as expounded by Archbishop Ussher (1650) that the Earth was about 6000 years old, and most held that the planet
formed many millions of years ago, but the actual age of the Earth was the subject of considerable debate until radiometric dating
became available. Another point worth noting is that the theory of evolution propounded by Charles Darwin (1859) came well after
most of the geologic periods were defined on the basis of the fossil record. The geologists knew that whole groups of organisms had
been replaced by other groups in the different intervals of the deep past, but they had little or no idea of the biological mechanism by
which these changes took place.
Within geologic periods, there are finer subdivisions called epochs. The creation of these finer divisions was necessary because
many important geological, environmental, and biological changes took place within the tens of millions of years associated with
geologic periods. The younger the period, the more scientists have been able to reconstruct about their environmental and
biological history. For instance, the Tertiary Period spans about 62 million years of Earth history, during which many dramatic
changes took place on this planet (Fig. 3). The Paleocene Epoch spanned the interval from roughly 65 to 55 million years ago
(Hooker, 2005). The asteroid collision that caused a mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period devastated life on Earth,
and it took several million years for new forms to evolve and diversify. New groups of marsupial and placental mammals flourished
in the middle Paleocene, but there was another extinction event at the end of the epoch. The Eocene Epoch, the longest of the
Tertiary Period, saw some very warm climatic conditions, tied with the expansion of tropical forests to the middle latitudes.
In contrast, the Oligocene Epoch included large-scale cooling, accompanied by the extinction of both marine invertebrates and
terrestrial mammal groups. This was followed by the Miocene, which is marked by an interval of global warming at the beginning,
accompanied toward the middle and end of the epoch by the expansion of grasslands for the first time in geologic history. The
presence of grasslands fostered the evolution of grazers, including the hoofed mammals, or ungulates. There are two major groups
of ungulates: the odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinoceroses, and the even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes,
camels, deer, and hippopotamus. The last Tertiary epoch was the Pliocene, which spans the interval from about 5 million to about
2.6 million years ago. The Pliocene saw the gradual decline of global temperatures that led to the subsequent onset of glaciations
that characterize the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period. The Pleistocene sequence of glacial and interglacial oscillations
ended about 11,700 years ago. The current interglacial warm interval is known as the Holocene epoch.
Links With Mass Extinctions
The delineation of many geologic periods and epochs has been based on mass extinction events. During Earth’s history, there have
been five major mass extinction events, including those demarking the boundaries between the Ordovician and Silurian periods, the
extinction at the end of the Devonian Period (three-quarters of known species died out), the mass extinction at the end of the
Permian Period (96% of known species became extinct), the extinction that marks the Triassic–Jurassic boundary (eliminated many
of the primitive dinosaur groups), and the end-Cretaceous extinction (end of the dinosaurs, and also many groups of marine
invertebrates). These enormous extinctions are thought to have been brought about by a wide variety of causes, including large-scale
environmental change (global warming or cooling), periods of extreme volcanism, and asteroid impacts. Whatever their cause,
these extinction events are clearly marked in the geologic record because the fossil assemblages that typified each geologic period
disappeared, and were replaced by whole new suites of species in fossil assemblages preserved rocks deposited a few million years
later. The only prehistoric large-scale extinction that has occurred within modern human history has been the extinction of
megafaunal mammals toward the end of the last glaciation. Megafauna are defined as animals with an adult weight of at least
44 kg. This extinction event is covered in an article by Haynes (2017).
One of the aspects that convinces many scientists of the validity of the Anthropocene Epoch is that we are now experiencing what
has been called the Sixth Mass Extinction. According to a recent appraisal of the situation by Ceballos et al. (2015), modern
extinction rates are extremely high, vastly exceeding the background rates of extinction.
Establishment of Geologic Boundaries
Through the last 150 years, there has been considerable debate about the exact timing of the boundaries of geologic eras, periods,
and epochs. More refined radiometric dating techniques have helped to settle some of these thorny issues, but the question of which
geologic site best exemplifies these boundaries has remained contentious. In recent decades, the geological community has settled
upon a procedure meant to resolve these debates, once and for all. This has been the designation of global stratotype sections and
points (GSSPs).
A point of some confusion for people who are not stratigraphic geologists is that the two systems of classifying units of Earth
history use different names for these units. Geochronologic units are basically units of time, including eons, eras, periods, epochs,
and ages (Fig. 4A). Chronostratigraphic units are essentially time-rock units, including eonothem, erathems, systems, series, and
Fig. 4 Comparison of geochronologic units (A) with chronostratigraphic units (B).

stages (Fig. 4B). Geochronology expresses the timing or age of events (depositional, diagenetic, biotic, climatic, tectonic, and
magmatic) in Earth’s history. Geochronology can also qualify rock bodies, stratified or unstratified, with respect to the time
interval(s) in which they formed.
Chronostratigraphy is an important branch of stratigraphy because the age correlations derived are crucial to drawing accurate
cross sections of the spatial organization of rocks and to preparing accurate paleogeographic reconstructions. Chronostratigraphy
includes all methods for establishing the relative time relationships of stratigraphic successions regionally and worldwide (e.g.,
biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, cyclostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy). It is also used for formally
naming bodies.
Both hierarchies continue to be used, as recommended by a formal vote of the International Commission on Stratigraphy in
2010. The geological context helps determine the appropriate usage of the component units. To further clarify, chronostratigraphic
units are geological materials. In the chronostratigraphic context, fossils of Tyrannosaurus rex are found in the Upper Cretaceous
series (i.e., the bedrock units from the Upper Cretaceous). In contrast, geochronological units are periods of time. In geochronologic
context, T. rex lived during the Late Cretaceous Epoch. The following discussion of stratigraphic subdivisions uses the chronostrati-
graphic terminology.
Global Stratotype Sections and Points
In recent decades, good progress is being made with definition of GSSPs that establish the lower boundary of all geological stages,
using discrete fossil and physical events that correlate well in the rock record (Gradstein and Ogg, 2005). Each set of GSSPs defined a
division of geologic time. More than 25 years ago, the first “golden spike” established the boundary between the Devonian and
Silurian. The type locality was a site in the Czech Republic. As with all golden spike localities (Fig. 5), a bronze plaque marks the
Fig. 5 GSSP golden spike localities, showing the bronze plaque at each site. (A) GSSP site in the Ediacara Hills in the Flinders Range of South Australia. The bronze
plaque marks the golden spike marking the end of the Precambrian Era (photo from Wikipedia); (B) GSSP site in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas,
marking the beginning of the Wordian age, a subdivision of the Guadalupian Epoch in the Permian Period that spans the interval from 268.8 to 265.1 million years
ago (photo by the National Park Service, United States); (C) GSSP site near Pueblo, Colorado, marking the beginning of the Turonian age, the second age in the
Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 93.9 0.8 and 89.8 1 Ma (million years ago) (photo by Brad
Sageman, Northwestern University); (D) GSSP site in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, marking the beginning of the Capitanian age, immediately above
the Wordian age (photo by the National Park Service, United States).
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"He is not a man after my own heart, and I would rather be excused
from serving under him. I don't think we shall agree."
"You may not agree, but he will," laughed the captain, who did not
appear to be half so amiable as before I had signed the shipping
papers.
"I don't think you know him. In my opinion, the police commissioners
of St. Louis would like to see him very much indeed," I answered.
This was a very imprudent remark on my part, though it was only the
simple truth. Ben Waterford's face turned red, and he leaped into the
boat where I was.
"We have carried this farce just far enough," said he, angrily. "I'm not
going to fool all day with any one. Now get into that boat. Tumble his
trunk in."
The men with me obeyed the order, and my valuable trunk was
placed in the stern sheets of the shipping master's boat. I could not
hope successfully to resist the captain and mate of the Michigan, and
calmer reflection than I had at first given the subject cooled my
desperate ardor. But I still hoped that some lucky event would save
me from my fate.
"Tumble into the boat, Phil," repeated the mate.
"I want you to tell the police of New York, as soon as possible," I
continued, turning to my boatman, "that the mate of the Michigan is
—"
I had not time to say any more before Ben Waterford seized me by
the throat, and pitched me into the other boat.
Phil made Prisoner by Waterford.
"Is a forger," I shouted.

"Shove off," said Captain Farraday; and the two boats separated.
"I'll tell them," replied the boatman, who was evidently vexed at the
loss of the promised sovereign, though he had done his best to earn
it.
"I want you to come alongside the bark, and carry the papers to the
custom-house," said Captain Farraday. "I will give you five dollars if
you will."
"I'll give you five more," added Ben Waterford.
I saw that those who were likely to be my friends were to be bought
off. Ten dollars would effectually silence them, and I had nothing more
to hope for, though it occurred to me that I might communicate with
the pilot, whose canoe had come alongside just as I left the bark. I
had exhausted my own resources, and I prayed to God for help. I was
driven up the accommodation ladder, and reached the deck, utterly
defeated and cast down. The men hoisted up my trunk, but I felt as
though that and myself might as well be at the bottom of the bay. I
had neglected, both in the letter and the spirit, the advice of my
father, and I was in a fair way to suffer severely for it. If Ben Waterford
had not been the mate of the bark, my future would have seemed
more tolerable.
"What shall we do with him?" asked Captain Farraday. "Send him
forward with the rest of the crew?"
"Not yet; he is turbulent, and may make trouble there. We will keep
him aft till we are in blue water. Come with me, Phil," he continued, in
savage tones, which were a foretaste of what I might reasonably
expect from him.
I followed him into the cabin, where he ordered me to wait his further
pleasure. He looked into several state-rooms, and finally entered one
of them, closing the door behind him. I had an opportunity for
reflection; but I had nothing to think of but the misery which the future
had in store for me. I sat down on a stool, and it was the literal stool
of repentance to me. If I could only get on shore once more, I should
be willing to give my word never to go to sea as a sailor again.
Captain Farraday came below while I was there, but he said nothing
to me. He enclosed some papers in an envelope, and soon left me
alone.
He had hardly gone before Ben Waterford came out of the state-
room. He had changed his clothes, and looked more like a sailor than
before. When I first saw him, I recognized him as the "Mr. A.
McGregor" I had seen on board of the steamer. Of course I had no
more doubt that he had robbed me of my money. I concluded that he
had in some manner learned that I had it before he left St. Louis, and
had probably come on board of the boat to obtain it. He had shaved
off his whiskers, and taken other precautions to avoid recognition.
"Go in there, Phil," said he, pointing to the state-room he had just left.
"You and I have berthed together before, and we can do it again."
"I don't care about going on this voyage now, Mr. Waterford."
"Perhaps not; but you have shipped, and you are bound to go now."
"If you will let me off—"
"I have no time to talk now. Go in there. I shall know where to find you
when I want you."
"I was only going to say—"
"In there," said he, savagely; and he made a demonstration towards
me.
I concluded that it would be the safest way for me to obey, and I
entered the state-room. He closed the door behind me, and I heard
the bolt of the lock spring upon me. I was a prisoner, and Ben
Waterford intended that I should remain where I was till the bark was
in blue water. In a short time I heard the voice of the captain, giving
orders on the quarter-deck to get the vessel under way. I had nothing
to do but bewail my sad fate.
The state-room belonged to the chief mate. On a desk in the corner
was a volume lettered "Log-book." On the floor was Ben Waterford's
trunk, and I was almost sure I had seen it on board of the steamer on
the Ohio. I stooped down to look at it, in order to satisfy myself, for I
had nothing else to do. The key was in the key-hole. This was
certainly a great oversight on the part of the mate. He could not have
intended to leave his trunk open while I was a prisoner in his room;
but villains are always making blunders and mistakes.
I am willing to acknowledge that it is not right to retaliate for an injury;
but I at once decided to explore the trunk of Mr. Ben Waterford. I did
not intend to do so from motives of revenge, but simply in the
interests of justice, and with the hope that I might find my lost money.
I had been trying for years to be a Christian young man. I had been in
earnest, and every day I had read the New Testament, and
endeavored to follow its precepts and principles. I honestly believe, if
I could have performed a good service to the new mate, I should not
have hesitated to do it.
I opened the trunk, and lifted up the various articles which it
contained. Among other things, I found several bags of money—gold,
I concluded by the weight of them. I untied the strings of several of
them, and found that they contained English sovereigns and Spanish
doubloons. They were not mine, and I restored them. If I had known
then to what use they were to be applied, I should have felt justified in
throwing them all into the sea. I concluded that Waterford had
exchanged the money he had obtained by forgery in St. Louis for this
gold. I tied up each bag as I found it, and put it back in its place.
While I was thus engaged, I heard the creaking of the rigging, and the
bark had careened over so that I understood she was now going to
sea.
But I had not examined all the bags, and I continued my investigation.
Among them I found a quantity of coin tied up in a white linen
handkerchief. I removed the string, and was pleased to find that the
money consisted of American gold. I had counted my own coin times
enough to know exactly of what it consisted. There were sixty twenty-
dollar pieces and thirty ten-dollar pieces. It did not take me long to
count them, and the number corresponded to my own. I was satisfied
that this money was mine, though of course I could not identify all the
pieces. I should not have been willing to swear to any one of them,
though some had a very familiar look.
I claimed this gold, and being my own judge and jury, my claim was
allowed. It was possible that it was not mine; but the probabilities
were all in my favor. I decided to take possession, though it occurred
to me that I might as well take possession of the vessel, since I was
in the power of my enemy, and he could take it from me at his own
pleasure. I proceeded to tie up the handkerchief as I had found it,
when upon one corner of it I found the initials "P. F." These letters
certainly belonged to me, whether the gold did or not. They had been
worked in the linen by Mrs. Greenough, my excellent St. Louis
landlady. It was the counterpart of the others in my wardrobe; and it
was perfectly evident that Mr. Ben Waterford had stolen the
handkerchief from my trunk when he opened it to take out the gold. I
had not missed the handkerchief, but I identified it to my own
satisfaction. I thought that a less partial judge and jury would have
given me the verdict on this evidence, added to that I had before
obtained.
I put the gold into my coat pocket, hoping that my wits would enable
me to retain it through the vicissitudes which were before me. I had
recovered my money, but I cannot say that I felt much better than
before. It was like the yellow dross upon the desert island; I had no
opportunity to use it; but I felt that I was in better condition to escape
whenever an occasion should be presented. I put everything in the
trunk just as I had found it, except the portion that belonged to me. I
locked it, and then, having unscrewed the bull's eye, I opened it, and
dropped the key overboard.
By this time the bark was pitching in the billows, and I concluded that
we must soon be in "blue water." It grew dark in the state-room; but at
last the door opened, and the mate summoned me to appear on
deck.
CHAPTER IX.
IN WHICH PHIL FINDS HIMSELF RATED AS AN
ABLE SEAMAN IN THE PORT WATCH.
"We are in blue water, Phil," said Mr. Ben Waterford, as he opened
the door of the state-room. "I didn't know but you might want to take
a last look at the shores of your native land, as you are a little
sentimental, like all young monkeys when they go to sea for the first
time."
"Thank you; it is very kind of you to give me the opportunity to do
so," I replied.
"It may be a long time before you see it again."
"Neither of us may ever see it again."
"That's a good deal more likely to happen to you than to me."
"There's no knowing what may happen to either of us."
"Whatever happens to either of us, I want you to understand, in the
first place, Phil, that I am the mate of this vessel."
"I understand that already, and because I understood it, I wanted to
get out of the vessel."
"You didn't get out of her."
"Unfortunately I did not."
"I didn't mean you should," said the mate, chuckling over the
success of his efforts.
"I'm here, and I'm disposed to make the best of it."
"I have no doubt you will be meek enough now; but you needn't
attempt to play the hypocrite here. Your cant won't help you."
"Cant never helps any one."
"You are growing sensible as you grow older," said he, with a sneer.
"I see you have shipped as an able seaman."
"I was not aware that I had shipped in any particular capacity. I
signed the paper at the captain's request."
"You are a very innocent little lamb. Didn't you write able seaman
against your name?"
"I did not."
"Then somebody else wrote it there for you, because you neglected
to rate yourself."
"My signing the paper was a mere form. I came on board to work my
passage to Palermo; and the captain said he would let me go when
we got there."
"When we get to Palermo he will do so," chuckled the mate. "In the
mean time, as you are written down as an able seaman, we shall
regard you as such, and expect you to do duty as one."
I did not understand him then; but I afterwards learned that sailors,
when they ship, rate themselves as able seamen, ordinary seamen,
or boys, the latter term meaning green hands, whatever their age or
size. If a man claims to be an able seaman, he must do the work of
one; not only be able to hand, reef, and steer, but to perform all the
difficult problems in making and mending rigging. In a word, he must
be proficient in all the arts of seamanship. He receives the highest
rate of wages.
An ordinary seaman is required to hand, reef, and steer; to make the
usual knots, and to understand the ropes and sails so that he can
obey an order from the officers; but he is not expected to be
proficient in all the niceties of making and mending rigging. A boy, or
green hand, is not supposed to know anything except what is taught
him after he comes on board. It is a great nautical sin for a man to
ship above his proper rating. If he signs his name and takes his pay
as an able seaman when he is not competent to perform the work of
one, he is regarded as a cheat. As there are usually but few able
seamen in a ship, the work of one who has thus deceived the officer
has to be done by others, and he is generally punished severely for
the trick. The most unpopular hand before the mast is one who has
shipped above his rate; and all his shipmates feel that they have a
reasonable grudge against him.
The mate had evidently rated me on the ship's papers to suit himself,
intending thereby to draw down upon me the enmity of the crew. I
expected no favors from him, and was prepared to submit to any
indignities and hardships to which I might be subjected, consoling
myself with the belief that I had only three or four weeks of service in
the bark before me.
"I shall do my duty to the best of my ability," I continued. "I did not
expect to find you in the vessel, or I should not have been here."
"I suppose not; but I'm very glad you are here. I may say I wanted
you here, and it is not altogether by chance that you happen to be
here," he replied, shaking his head. "You have come athwart my
hawse once or twice too often, Phil."
"I have never had any malice or ill-will towards you."
"Tell that to the marines! If you had minded your own business, I
should have been a rich man, and the husband of Marian Collingsby
to-day. No matter, my lad; I mean to be both yet."
"I only did what I considered it my duty to do."
"None of your cant! I'm going to call all hands in a few minutes, and I
shall take care that you are in my watch."
"Wherever I am, I shall do the best I know how."
"You will wish you had always done so, and not meddled with my
affairs, before this cruise is up. You are not going to live in the cabin,
and have plum duff for dinner every day."
"I will submit as cheerfully as possible to my lot, whatever it may be."
Ben Waterford appeared to be angry because his threats did not
appall me. I hoped that God would give me strength to do my duty,
and enable me to bear all I might be called upon to endure. My tyrant
seemed to be disposed to torture me before he sacrificed me; but I
was determined not to be tortured by any mere words that he used. I
had already nullified a part of the mischief he had done me, for I had
my gold in my pocket. If I could retain this, my future seemed to be
tolerably secure.
"Do you know how you happen to be on board of this bark, Phil?"
said Waterford, the malice twinkling in his eye.
"The circumstances led me here."
"Not exactly! I led you here."
"Perhaps you did, for it looks now as though an evil spirit had guided
my steps."
"Good, Phil! That was well said. You hit the nail on the head. I won't
tell you yet where we are bound; but I must tell you that I saw you on
board of the ferry-boat when you came to New York, and that
Captain Farraday induced you to ship because I desired it. This will
be good news to you, and I wished you to know it. Before I have
done with you, I am going to teach you to mind your own business."
"You will find me a good scholar at that," I replied.
I asked no questions, as he evidently wished me to do. I had parted
with him when we left the Ohio, but I had no idea where he had been
since that time. His explanation showed me why Captain Farraday
had been so anxious to have me go with him, and I felt that I had
walked into the trap very blindly.
"That's all, Phil. We shall be even soon. Now we will go on deck.
Where's your trunk?"
"On deck, I believe."
I followed him on deck. The bark was under all sail, and driving
rapidly over the blue waves. Far away in the distance I saw some
hills, which the darkness soon shut out from my view. The drunken
crew had certainly improved wonderfully since I had seen them last,
for all were quiet and orderly. I found my trunk, and was ordered to
carry it to the forecastle. A bunk near the door was assigned to me,
and I put my trunk under it.
"How do you like this?" asked the mate.
"Very well," I replied.
"Very well? Is that the way you address your officer? If you ever
speak to me or the second mate without a 'sir,' you will get knocked
down for your impudence. Do you understand that?"
"I do, sir."
"That's better. Now open your trunk; and let's see what you have in
it."
"Open my trunk, sir!" I exclaimed, amazed at this requirement.
"Open it!" he added, sternly. "We look into every man's kit, to see
that he has no liquor concealed there."
I thought this was a reasonable requirement, after this explanation,
and I opened the trunk. The mate tumbled over my things very
rudely. I had tied up the relics of my childhood in little bundles, so
that he did not see their contents, and he only tossed them on the
deck. He picked up the bag which had contained my gold.
"What's this for?" he demanded.
"I had my money in it, sir."
"Where's your money now?"
"I lost it, sir."
"Lost it!"
"It was stolen from me, sir."
"Was it? Well, I hope you may find it again—that's all," chuckled he.
I made no answer; but I could not help foreshadowing the scene
when he examined the contents of his own trunk.
"Put back your duds, and stand by when all hands are called."
He left me, and I hastily restored my property to the trunk, and
locked it. I took up the bag which the mate had examined, and
dropped the handkerchief containing the gold into it. I dared not put
the treasure into my trunk, and I looked about me for some secure
place of deposit for it. An apartment frequented by twenty such men
as composed the crew of the Michigan was not a safe place for
fifteen hundred dollars in gold; but I had no alternative, and I thrust
the bag into a hole under my berth.
"All hands on deck!" shouted the second mate, whose name was
Tom York, though nautical courtesy compelled us to call him Mr.
York.
The men gathered in the waist, and the captain made a speech to
them, which I thought contained buncombe enough for a member of
Congress; but the speaker, whose grog had not been stopped, as
that of the crew had been, was still boozy. The men were then
divided into watches, the mates alternately selecting a hand until all
had been stationed.
"Call your man," said the captain to the chief mate.
"Phil Farringford, able seaman," replied Waterford.
"Your turn, Mr. York," added the captain.
"Ned Bilger."
"Jack Sanderson," continued the chief mate.
"Are you an able seaman, my hearty?" asked Sanderson, the man
who had been chosen second in the port watch with me.
"No, I am not. The mate is down upon me, and rated me as an able
seaman, because I did not know enough to rate myself," I replied.
"But we want the able seamen equally divided in the watches."
"The mate knows very well that I am not an able seaman," I added.
"Beg your pardon, Mr. Waterford, but this youngster says he's not an
able seaman," said Sanderson, stepping up to the mate.
"He shipped as such, and we take him at his word. You must do the
same."
"That will never do, my hearty," growled Sanderson to me.
"I can't help it."
"You are honest, my lad," said the old sailor, who was at least fifty
years old. "I don't see why the mate should make his first choice of a
youngster like you, though."
"I know something about a vessel, but not much. I am willing to do
what I can to learn; but I don't pretend to be what I am not."
"That's honest," added old Jack, slapping me on the back. "I'll make
an able seaman of you. There, pipe down. Now come with me, and
we will overhaul the matter."
I went to the forecastle with Sanderson, and told him my story, so far
as it related to my connection with the vessel.
CHAPTER X.
IN WHICH PHIL STANDS HIS WATCH, AND TAKES
HIS TRICK AT THE WHEEL.
Jack Sanderson was an old sailor. I had noticed, when I first came on
board of the bark, that he was very drunk. But he had a kind heart,
and was a person of great natural ability. If he had let liquor alone, he
might have been the master of a vessel. He was much interested in
my story, and gave me such good advice as the circumstances
required. He counselled me to obey the officers in all things, to be
respectful, and to perform every duty with care and attention. I had
already resolved to do all this, but I was strengthened by the advice
of the old salt.
"I'm afraid the captain won't discharge you when we get to Palermo,"
said Jack.
"Then I shall discharge myself," I replied, decidedly.
"That's easy to say, my hearty, but not always easy to do. You signed
the shipping papers."
"The captain told me that was a mere form, and that he would let me
go when the bark arrived at Palermo."
"Perhaps he will let you go, and then again perhaps he won't. You
can't always tell the night beforehand how the wind's going to blow.
You've walked right into a scrape, and all you can do is to make the
best of it."
"I intend to do that; and I think the best thing I can do will be to leave
when we reach Palermo."
"There goes one bell, and we must turn in, for we shall be tumbled
out at midnight," added Jack.
My bunk was next above that of my new friend. I knelt, as I always
did, before my bed, and prayed for strength and grace. I had been in
the habit of uttering my prayer audibly, and in a low tone. I did so on
the present occasion. The rest of the port watch had all turned in, and
most of them appeared to be snoring.
"So you say your prayers, Phil," said Jack Sanderson, as I climbed
into my berth.
Phil Prayed for Strength and Grace.
"Yes, sir; I always do that, and I do not feel like neglecting it here."
"That's right, my lad. I don't do so myself, but I like to see others do it;
I wish I could. I always feel safer in a vessel when somebody prays."
"If you think it is right to do so, I hope you will do it yourself."
"I don't think I could now. I was brought up to do so; but I've drank
liquor enough to float this bark from New York to Palermo, and that's
knocked all the good out of me."
"I would stop drinking liquor."
"Stop! But I'm an old sailor."
"Have you any liquor on board?"
"Not a drop."
"Then you will drink none on this cruise."
"Not a thimbleful."
"If you can get along without it for three or four weeks at sea, why can
you not do without it when you go ashore?"
"You are green, my lad. By the time you can take your trick at the
wheel, and parcel a stay, you will know all about it. But batten down
your peepers, and go to sleep, Phil."
It was not so easy for me to go to sleep after the excitement of the
evening, and I wasted half of my watch below in thinking over the
events of the day. Certainly I had enough to reflect upon, enough to
regret, and enough to dread in the future. I was completely in the
power of my enemy. I could only submit, and suffer. It was possible
that Captain Farraday, after he was sober, would save me from
absolute abuse; but I did not expect anything from him. I went to
sleep at last, because I could think of nothing to mitigate my hard lot.
"All the port watch!" rang through the forecastle before I was ready to
hear the call, for I had not slept two hours.
However, I was one of the first to hear the summons, because I had
no drunken debauch to sleep off. I turned out instantly, and shook
Jack Sanderson till he came out of his drunken stupor. He leaped
briskly from his bunk, and we were the first to report ourselves on
deck. The chief mate had not yet appeared, and I wondered whether
he had discovered the loss of a part of his specie. I expected a
tremendous storm when he ascertained that his ill-gotten gold had
disappeared. He could not unlock his trunk without the use of the
pick-lock; but, as he had found no difficulty in opening mine, I did not
think he would in opening his own. The only thing that troubled me
was the insecurity of the hiding-place I had chosen for my treasure. I
was looking for a better place, and I hoped the storm would not come
till I had found it.
The bark was still under all sail, with the wind from the south-west. I
noticed a change in the sails, and that the vessel rolled now, instead
of pitching. Either the wind had changed, or the course of the bark
had been altered; I could not tell which. I liked the motion of the
vessel; and, as she sped over the waves, I could have enjoyed the
scene if I had not been in the power of an enemy. While I was looking
at the sails and the sea, the chief mate came on deck. By this time
the starboard watch had roused their sleepy shipmates, and the
whole port watch were at their stations.
"Phil Farringford!" called the mate.
"Here, sir," I replied, stepping up to the quarter-deck; and I observed
that Jack Sanderson followed me as far as it was proper for him to
go.
"You are an able seaman, Phil; take your trick at the wheel."
"Ay, ay, sir," I replied, using the language I had heard others use
when ordered by an officer to do anything.
"Beg your pardon, sir; but Phil does not pretend to be an able
seaman," interposed my salt friend.
"Who spoke to you?" growled the mate. "Go forward, and when I
want anything of you I'll call for you."
"I only wanted to say, sir—"
"Shut up!"
Jack went forward, followed by a shower of oaths from the mate.
"Relieve the helm, Phil," repeated Waterford.
"Ay, ay, sir."
I went to the wheel.
"You are down on the shipping papers as an able seaman, and you
ought to be able to take your trick at the wheel."
"I will do the best I can, sir," I replied.
"You will steer the bark, or take the consequences," said the mate, as
if satisfied that he had put me in a position where I must make a
failure, and call down upon my head the wrath and contempt of my
shipmates.
There were but two able and three ordinary seaman in the port watch.
The others, like myself, were green hands, who had never stood at a
wheel. The five seamen, therefore, would be obliged to do all the
steering; and of course it put more of this duty upon them than the
other watch had, in which there were three able and three ordinary
seamen. Five men would have to do the work which properly
belonged to six; and these men, in the common course of life on
shipboard, would hate and annoy, to the best of their ability, the one
who imposed this extra labor upon them.
I had never steered at a wheel, but I was perfectly at home at the
helm of a yacht. I knew the compass, and understood when a sail
was drawing properly. Perhaps it was presumptuous in me, but I
made up my mind, when ordered to do it, that I could steer the bark.
She was going free, with the wind a little abaft the beam, and this
made it easy for a beginner. While I stood listening to the mate, I
noticed that the helmsman steered very "small;" indeed, the bark
seemed to take care of herself.
"South-east," said Ned Bilger, whom I relieved at the helm.
"South-east," I repeated, as I had heard the wheelman say when the
course was given to him.
I placed myself on the weather side of the wheel, and grasped the
spokes with a firm hand. Fixing my gaze upon the compass in the
binnacle, I determined to make a success of my first attempt to steer.
I was a mechanic, and I fully comprehended the working of the
machinery of the compass. All I had to do was to keep the point
south-east on the notch; or, in other words, to keep south-east in
range with the bowsprit. I was cool and self-possessed, for I felt that I
could do all that was required of me.
Waterford walked forward, as I took the helm, to look after the men.
Doubtless he expected the bark would come up into the wind in a
moment, and that he should have an opportunity to lay me out. I soon
found that the vessel carried a weather helm; or, if left to herself,
would throw her head tip into the wind. As the compass appeared to
turn, though in reality it was the bark that varied, I met her with the
helm. I steered small, thus avoiding the usual mistake of
inexperienced helmsmen; and I found that a single spoke brought the
compass back to its proper position. In five minutes I felt entirely at
home; but I thanked my stars that the bark did not happen to be
close-hauled, for, between laying a course and keeping all the sails
drawing, I should have been badly bothered.
As soon as I understood the wheel, I rather liked the work. I was so
interested in my occupation that I ceased to gape, and felt very much
like an old sailor. The mate, who was evidently waiting for me to
make a blunder, said nothing more to me. He occasionally walked aft
and glanced at the compass; but I was very careful not to let the bark
vary a hair from her course. As the mate said nothing, I imitated his
example. It is not proper for any one to talk to the man at the wheel,
and Waterford showed that he was a good officer by holding his
tongue. I kept up a tremendous thinking; and, among other things, I
tried to explain why, if the bark was bound up the Mediterranean, her
course was to the south-east. I knew about the variation of the
compass; but, as it was less than a point to the westward, it did not
account for the present course. My theory was, that the vessel ought
to be headed about east, in order to reach the Straits of Gibraltar. But
I did not venture to express any opinion on this subject to the captain
or the mate.
Waterford planked the deck, and I fancied that he was not at all
pleased to find that I could steer the bark. While I congratulated
myself that I was able to do so, I knew there were a hundred other
things I could not do, and therefore his revenge was only deferred for
a few hours. At four bells, Dick Baxter, one of the able seamen of our
watch, came aft and relieved me.
"What do you mean, Phil?" demanded Jack Sanderson, when I went
forward. "You said you wasn't a seaman."
"I never steered a square-rigged vessel before in my life," I replied. "I
have been at the helm of a yacht."
"You steered like an old sailor, my hearty, and kept her as steady as a
judge on the bench."
"I am going to do the best I can. I know something about a vessel, but
I have a great deal to learn."
"I'll learn you, my lad."
"Thank you. I shall be very grateful to you."
I spent the remaining two hours of my watch on deck in learning the
names and uses of the various ropes of the running rigging. I studied
on halyards, sheets, buntlines, and clew-garnets, and I thought I
made good progress. But the next day I was introduced to a cringle,
and found myself at fault.

Encyclopedia of The Anthropocene 5 Volumes Dominick A Dellasala Full Chapter

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Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene (5

volumes) Dominick A. Dellasala

GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND ENERGY

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

For information on all publications

Printed and bound in the United States

Publisher: Oliver Walter

Editor Biographies xxv

Basis for Establishment of Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs 9

Finding a “Golden Spike” to Mark the Anthropocene 19

The Geomorphology of the Human Age 35

The 1950s as the Beginning of the Anthropocene 45

Sediments of the Anthropocene 57

Historical Overview of the Natural Gas Industry 63

Concrete: The Most Abundant Novel Rock Type of the Anthropocene 75

Hydrology in the Anthropocene 87

Fluxes of Trace Metals on a Global Scale 93

Greatly Increased CO2 115

Anthropogenic Soils as the Marker 129

Plastics in the Ocean 133

Evidence in Polar Ice Records 151

Humanly Modified Ground 157

Plastics and the Anthropocene 163

Magnetic Particulates as Markers of Fossil Fuel Burning 179

Spheroidal Carbonaceous Fly Ash Particles in the Anthropocene 189

Isotopic Signatures 197

Geochemical Records in Speleothems 205

Chemical Signals of the Anthropocene 213

Editor's Note 227

Increased Acidity of Ocean Waters 233

Loss of Coral Reefs 245

Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Event 259

Rewilding the Pleistocene Fauna 277

Development of Coal-Fired Steam Technology in Britain 285

Rise of Airline Transportation After WWII 307

Environmental Effects of Terrestrial Oil Spills 323

Rise in Motorized Transportation and Weapons in the World Wars 337

Sustainable Energy Development; The Role of Geothermal Power 357

City Planning and Energy Use 385

Energy Use in Food System 397

Introduction to Renewable Energy 405

Wind Farms 407

Industrial Energy Use, Status and Trends 421

Environmental Change and Energy 431

Energy and Natural Resources 441

Combustion to Concentration to Warming: What Do Climate Targets Mean for Emissions?

Overview Article for the Geologic History Section 453

Climate Change and Energy 457

Metrics for Greenhouse Gas Equivalence 467

VOLUME 1: GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND ENERGY

Basis for Establishment of Geologic Eras, Periods, and Epochs 9

Finding a “Golden Spike” to Mark the Anthropocene 19

The Geomorphology of the Human Age 35

The 1950s as the Beginning of the Anthropocene 45

Sediments of the Anthropocene 57

Historical Overview of the Natural Gas Industry 63

Concrete: The Most Abundant Novel Rock Type of the Anthropocene 75

Hydrology in the Anthropocene 87

Fluxes of Trace Metals on a Global Scale 93

Greatly Increased CO2 115

Anthropogenic Soils as the Marker 129