Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene

Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene presents a currency-based, global synthesis cataloguing the impact of humanity's global ecological footprint. Covering a multitude of aspects related to Climate Change, Biodiversity, Contaminants, Geological, Energy and Ethics, leading scientists provide foundational essays that enable researchers to define and scrutinize information, ideas, relationships, meanings and ideas within the Anthropocene concept. Questions widely debated among scientists, humanists, conservationists, politicians and others are included, providing discussion on when the Anthropocene began, what to call it, whether it should be considered an official geological epoch, whether it can be contained in time, and how it will affect future generations.

Although the idea that humanity has driven the planet into a new geological epoch has been around since the dawn of the 20th century, the term "Anthropocene" was only first used by ecologist Eugene Stoermer in the 1980s, and hence popularized in its current meaning by atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen in 2000.

• Presents comprehensive and systematic coverage of topics related to the Anthropocene, with a focus on the Geosciences and Environmental science
• Includes point-counterpoint articles debating key aspects of the Anthropocene, giving users an even-handed navigation of this complex area
• Provides historic, seminal papers and essays from leading scientists and philosophers who demonstrate changes in the Anthropocene concept over time

Biodiversity Climate Change Contaminants Energy Geological Epochs Socioeconomics and Ethics

Advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, research scientists working in all areas of geosciences and at its borders with other disciplines, university researchers.

Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., is President and Chief Scientist of the Geos Institute (www.geosinstitute.org) in Ashland, Oregon. He served two terms as President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section, and is a Courtesy Professor at Oregon State University. He is an internationally renowned author of over 200 technical papers on forest and fire ecology, conservation biology, endangered species, and landscape ecology. He received conservation leadership awards from the World Wildlife Fund (2000, 2004), Wilburforce Foundation (2006), received Choice Publisher’s “academic excellence” award for “Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World: Ecology and Conservation,” and is on the Fulbright Specialist roster for international placement by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. Dr. DellaSala has appeared on nature documentaries (PBS), as an expert witness at numerous congressional hearings including acting as a “whistle blower” during congressional hearings on scientific integrity and the Endangered Species Act, and has given keynote addresses at numerous conferences and international meetings such the United Nations Earth Summit. He is motivated by his passion to leave a living planet for his daughter and all those that follow.

Photo credit: Ariela DellaSala