“Anthropocene” traces its meaning from its greek roots. The prefix, “anthro-” comes from “anthropos” referencing man or human , and “cene” stems from “kainos,” the current geological period. On the same spectrum lies the term, “urban ecology,” a similar term that describes an environment support human growth and maintains some elements of nature. In Conservation in the Anthropocene and Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems, Kareiva and Vitousek both depict a future where humans spread their influence to all walks of life and control the “cycle of the planet’s ecology and geochemistry” (Kareiva). Beginning at the dawn of the industrial revolution, the anthropocene triggered the plague of human development which has steadily crippled the natural environment and brought about a more resilient “urban ecology.”
Humans have undoubtedly contaminated oceans as far as the Arctic with pesticides, and infected its environment’s inhabitants as a result. Endangered species and wilderness soon will not be able to thrive in habitats ruined by human expansion. The American chestnut, the passenger pigeon, and Stellar’s Sea Cow no longer exist. All signs seem to point south and demonstrate nature’s “fragility.” However, Kareiva suggests that nature’s resilience and adaptability. Surprisingly after the Chernobyl incident and nuclear bombs tests at Bikini Atoll, wildlife still remained and increased. Coyotes can be seen in Chicago and peregrine falcons still reside in San Francisco. These species have adapted to the change in human development. Kareiva presents a solution to preserving the environment that embraces human development. “Protecting biodiversity for its own sake has not worked. Protecting nature that is dynamic and resilient” (Kareiva) becomes a sustainable option.
Vitousek provides a couple reasons why mankind’s advancement and nature’s decline go hand in hand with one another. Land transformation limits biological diversity, fisheries create an imbalance in marine ecosystem via overfishing. Yet the largest pervading problem caused by human development is the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2). What is more frightening is that the “concentration of CO2 as it has increased steadily from 315 ppm to 362 ppm” (Vitousek), compared to steady 280 ppm that lasted thousands of years until the 1800s. This carbon dioxide spike originates from fossil fuel combustions which now directly furthers the greenhouse gas effect. While most of the water on earth remains inaccessible by humans, the precious remainder of this runoff water gets threaded through dams which change the chemical makeup of rivers and damaged some other water bodies. Vitousek hints that there should be a point where humans should balance back the ecology.
Vitousek’s tone becomes more defeatist towards the end stating that “the momentum of human population growth, together with the imperative for further economic development in most of the world, ensures that our dominance will increase” (Vitousek) which really tells the audience, nature does not stand a chance against humankind. It must bend to our will. His solution to the problem of human development relies on two passive ideas: slowing down the rate of change and understanding the earth’s ecosystems. “Humans and human-dominated systems may be able to adapt to slower change, and ecosystems and the species they support may cope more effectively with the changes we impose, if those changes are slow” (Vitousek). I certainly look through the same lens as Kareiva, who persuades his readers to abandon false hopes and embrace what currently adapts to human development and preserve those ecosystems.
