TEACHING THE ANTHROPOCENE: A NEW PARADIGM FOR GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION

The Anthropocene has been defined as the period during which humans have become a global geophysical force. The concept of the Anthropocene can be expanded beyond this “narrow” definition to a more all-encompassing view of the ethical, social and economic implications of human activity on planetary systems. It is no longer possible, nor desirable to compartmentalize these activities into traditional disciplines or silos. I suggest that the Anthropocene can be used as the educational framework for trans-disciplinary instruction of humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

The essence of the Anthropocene, is in fact, that business as usual is wholly unacceptable. New paradigms for communicating geoscience to our teachers, students and the public are essential if business as usual outcomes are to be avoided. To further this goal, over the last seven years, I have developed a “Human Impacts” course and accompanying website, that uses the Anthropocene as its organizing principle. The course integrates geoscience with demographic change, environmental science and the ethical and intergenerational consequences attending anthropogenic modification of our planet.

The course has been designed for non-science majors required to meet university-wide gen-ed science requirements, but can easily be "dialed up” or “down" for high school or geoscience/environmental science majors. There is a rapidly growing body of literature describing the telecoupled nature of the Anthropocene, characterized by globally connected socioeconomic and environmental systems, where choices made by individuals in one location have profound ramifications in distant places. I believe students leaving high school or the university need a course encompassing the essential aspects of planetary change, which extend well beyond climate change. In order to do so, we must reorient our geoscience education instruction to reflect the reality of the Anthropocene. In 2000, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen first suggested we were living in the Anthropocene; in 2011 he and Christian Schwagerl called for teaching students about this profound change. We cannot wait another decade to begin this task: it is now time to “teach the Anthropocene.”