The Anthropocene Epoch: When Humans Changed the World

by Bruce Glass

As we hear more and more about deforestation, pollution, species extinctions, and climate change, some people may wonder how we got here. Some may wonder what is being done about those things. Some people may even wonder what all the fuss is really about.

In The Anthropocene Epoch, we will examine how humankind has altered the character of our home—planet Earth—over the last 10,000 years. We will take a brief tour through the many ways in which we have dramatically improved our standard of living and made life much easier for most people around the world in just a few centuries, even in the last few decades.

We will also examine how our growing numbers are putting a strain on Earth’s ecosystems. We will see how human development, consumption, and waste are putting our unprecedented standard of living at risk. In response, many individuals, small businesses, and large corporations are adapting to our changing world, provide hope for our children’s future.

The Anthropocene Epoch illustrates how we (humankind) have changed our world, and how we have the ability to preserve it, if we will.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Contemporary, Biography Memoir, Technology, Self Help

220 pages, Paperback

Published September 22, 2021

Reviews

[Jim Razinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a review copy of this book from the author through LibraryThing. BLUF*: This is a well-researched, properly** cited, well-composed book that is easily read, and quickly... if you don't stop to follow up on too many of the references. Or set it aside for a few days to finish the books that were set aside when it came in! This is not what I expected. But as has been the case lately, it's better.

Mr. Glass says in his Introduction that "The following pages are intended to offer readers some historical perspective on how we (hunankind) have changed our planet. [...] to stress the urgency of the problems of deforestation, wild habitat destruction, resource depletion, species extinction, and climate change." Yeah. We're pretty bad. Mr. Glass outlines a natural history of the earth, lays out his case for labeling our time as the Anthropocene Epoch, talks about population growth, the Sixth Extinction (driven by... guess who?), climate change, and its current causes, and then discusses at length, with references, the age of unreason we are in. He concludes with reason for hope - the measures that have been taken to correct the course of the human caused devastation and more solutions on their way. Tall order. But done well. He says

As our founding fathers repeatedly emphasized, a healthy democracy is dependent upon a well-informed electorate, That is why objective journalism is so important. It is also why we need to be able to recognize propaganda and disinformation.

He did a pretty good job being objective here, although I think the targets of his Unreason chapter would disagree (they always do.) He does say in Chapter 7, "An Age of Unreason",

Some readers may be thinking this chapter has been too political, partisan, or polemic for a book about objective science. Yet, a book about how humankind has altered the planet must include a discussion of human nature and the resulting political forces that resist responsible mitigation of the environmental hazards of our own making.

Science rejection, denial of facts, politicizing it all...disheartening. But please, read this book.

Some selected margin notes and highlights:

[on population] Mr. Glass references Stanford University Professor Paul Ehrlich's 1968 book, The Population Bomb, which warned about "resource depletion and food shortages resulting from overpopulation could cause massive starvation as early as the 1970sa or 80s." He says "Ehrlich might have been well advised to have noted similar predictions that had been made by the English cleric and economist Thomas Robert Malthus in his 1798 work, An Essay on the Principles of Population.
{I think it quite unlikely that Ehrlich did not know of Malthus.}

[on the sixth extinction] "There are at least five threats to biodiversity and the preservation of species: land use change (primarily deforestation), climate change, overharvesting, pollution, and the introduction of invasive species (both intentionally and inadvertent) and diseases."
{A very succinct and pointed summary. Again, we're pretty bad.}

[on "zombie fires in the Arctic] Mr. Glass shares Miami University professor Jessica McCarty's observations, "Arctic fires are burning earlier and farther north, in landscapes previously thought to be fire resistant." Peat, trapped in permafrost for 15,000 to 20,000 years is being exposed by climate change and again, thanks to humans, is now releasing extraordinary amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
[I admit I was unaware of this change.}

[unreason] In the 2004 book titled Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing, containing sixteen essay from the leading ID proponents, Mr. Glass notes "Only four of the sixteen were biologists. The primary focus of the text was the contributors' explanations of why they believed evolution should not be real, rather than why they believed it is not real."
{Excellent. Call out the fallacies of pseudo authority. This reminds me of The Petition Project, a climate change denial document signed by at least 32,000 people claiming to have a BS degree or higher, 9,000 of which in 2008 held PhDs. The problem? Those PhDs (and most of the rest) were not climate scientists! "Excuse me, I have a doctorate in civil engineering/neuroscience/biology/... That PhD qualifies me as an expert in everything, including the climate." Right.}

[On the Church and the Bible (still in the Unreason chapter)] In a few places, Mr. Glass says that the Church got it wrong, not the Bible, and misunderstandings of Scripture are the reason people think that evolution is contradicted by the Bible.
{Huh? Okay, this is not a theology text, and Mr. Glass leaves me hanging there as to what he means, but that's okay. I've got more books in progress now.

[after reminding me about Reagan's killing of the Fairness Doctrine and the fallout] "So, a radio personality like Rush Limbaugh who can artfully reinforce a tribal identity, while blaming the world's problems on others can be quite attractive to a significant portion of the population. Naturally, television personalities who offer that same appeal can also draw large audiences."
{He then goes on to talk about my favorite serial liars who don't even hide in court that they are shams, the Ailes/Murdoch network.}

[jumping off points]
Find:
Richard Fortey's Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth
Shawn Otto's The War of Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It
David Folkenflik"s NPR article on Fox lawyers arguing that "You Literally Can't Believe the Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You"

Check: National Park Service page on a pterosaur

I think I would have given this four stars, but the chapter on "An Age of Unreason" scratched my confirmation bias so well that I'm going with five.

*Bottom Line Up Front
** I detest the too often used now style of putting notes at the end of a book with no references in the main body text at all. Tired of getting surprised at the end with "hey! there are references!", I've taken to checking the back first. and if I find this "style", I'm already dogging the author. I will decide if I want to reread a book and that's the only way to handle those absurd notes...from reverse. Mr. Glass did it the right way, with a nondescript superscript telling me there's more, and letting me decide if I want to follow up on it.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written and easy to read book dealing with the important issue of climate change and the human impact on the world. There is a great deal of information here and there is a lot to think about. I'll urge my friends to read this book.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

The question of how things are and how they’re meant to be is always an interesting one. I remember as a child, admiring the beauties of the Lake District in England, and being surprised to learn that the countryside wasn’t “meant to be” like that. Human actions had shaped it.

Bruce Glass’s The Anthropocene Epoch offers the regular reader a deeper look into how human actions have shaped and are still shaping the world, with much farther-reaching consequences than beautiful mountains and lakes. Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction is just one of the very many volumes the author uses in the course of this well-researched book. And readers are invited to look far beyond the headlines, the politics, and the vested interests of the modern world as they read.
Excellent graphs and diagrams clarify the issues and, while climate change is an obvious topic of the book, the explanation of how the world has been changed by us goes much deeper, reaching forward from the far-distant past, giving this book a much wider scope than many others. But history also reveals a more convincing threat. After all, the earth has survived through worse storms than this, but not all its inhabitants have.

A chapter on the age of unreason addresses historical religion and politics as well as those of the present day, and offers a balanced, well-reasoned view of modern America’s slide away from facts and truth. The author wisely shares out the blame, without pretending that it has to be equally shared. But the facts, as they pile on each other, show a world that is truly hurting, and not only in the ways we’ve heard before. Cars and planes aren’t the only problem. Genetic engineering of food isn’t evil. Vaccines save lives. Influential people lie. Money talks. And…

In the end, this book is hopeful rather than depressing. Yes, the world has been changed by humanity, but we’ve been changing it for a very long time. And yes, we could become extinct. But “With our many discoveries, inventions, innovations, and great expansion of knowledge, humankind has created a wonderful time to be alive for most people… Surely we have the capacity to preserve our planet…” When you finish reading this book you’ll agree with the author’s conclusion.

Appendices include copious notes, lists of endangered animals, text from the Green New Deal and more. Very well worth reading. And indeed, the whole book should a must-read for everyone remotely interested in preserving our plant.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I offer my honest review. It’s a really good book.

[Read Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a GoodReads giveaway win of a Kindle ebook.

This was a short and quick read. Appears to be pretty well researched and honest. I learned a few things about past Republican actions and how the party has evolved over time. It does cause me to rethink my personal role in mankind's future actions. That is the sign of a good book, encouraging personal change.

This was a GoodReads.

[Kristine Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review Title: Excellent overview of human activities and how they have impacted our planet.

I very much appreciated this book and found it informative and well-written. It made me sad and angry at times, challenged me to do better, and offered hope too. The book was thoroughly researched and well organized. I would nit-pick the use of “theory” on occasion where “hypothesis” would have been a better word. But overall, this is an excellent overview of human interaction with and impact on our world.

The book begins with an introduction that sets the stage for the content of the remaining chapters. Mr. Glass’ writing style draws the reader into the book and is effective at communicating information and his passion for this topic.

Chapter 1, “A Little Natural History”, is a concise but well-formed summary of the various geological ages of the earth and the principal organisms prevalent during each time period. The five major extinction events are described as well as the types of organisms that survived and became dominant in the wake of the open ecological niches after each event.

Chapter 2, “The Anthropocene Epoch”, gives a brief overview of human population growth as well as major ways humans have transformed the planet through agriculture, domestication of farm animals, CO2 and methane production, and even the size and development of chickens.

Chapter 3, “Bring in the Crowd”, looks ahead to the future of humanity and our planet as the population continues to grow. How will we be able to feed 8 – 11+ billion people long term? I liked how the author brought up multiple ideologies and options like natural and sustainable agricultural approaches as well as technological improvements in farming. This chapter also briefly touched on zoonoses (diseases that leap to humans from animals) as populations encroach on the habitats of wild animals. The chart of World Population Growth on page 58 is striking and scary.

Chapter 4, “The Sixth Extinction”, is a somber chapter detailing many species that are declining or have gone extinct. “There are at least five threats to biodiversity and the preservation of species; land use change (primarily deforestation), climate change, overharvesting, pollution, and the introduction of invasive species (both intentionally or inadvertently) and diseases.” p72.

Chapter 5, “A Torrid Future”, articulates the current effects of climate change and the likely scenarios for the future including agricultural zones moving toward higher latitudes, melting of glaciers, rising water levels, fires, thawing of the permafrost, and more.

Chapter 6, “Are We to Blame?” examines the effect of greenhouse gases that trap solar energy (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and fluorinated gases) and their sources, both natural and human-driven. It also covers the methods used to determine that the temperature is rising and how the rate of change is computed.

Chapter 7, “An Age of Unreason”, is a fairly long chapter that looks at human politics, misinformation (and disinformation), demagoguery, science denial, and their effects. I found this quote from p113 important in that it illustrates that people often don’t want to accept the evidence. “A 2004 book titled Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing, contained essays from sixteen of the world’s leading Intelligent Design proponents. Only four of the sixteen were biologists. The primary focus of the text was the contributors’ explanations of why they believed evolution should not be real, rather than why they believed it is not real.” I found the discussion on survival of the fittest and Social Darwinism very interesting, especially with respect to laissez-faire economics. “Though they are often used in efforts to discredit science, it should be well understood that proclamations of Moral Relativism or Social Darwinism have no basis in the science they seek to incorporate.” p115. From page 142, “Some readers may be thinking this chapter has been too political, partisan, or polemic for a book about objective science. Yet, a book about how humankind has altered the planet must include a discussion of human nature and the resulting political forces that resist responsible mitigation of the environmental hazards of our own making.” I appreciated that Mr. Glass looked at issues in both American political parties and I agree that the influence of politics was a necessary talking point for the subjects covered in this book.

Chapter 9, “Hope Is on the Way”, is the final chapter and gives many reasons to be hopeful that progress can be made to slow and even stop global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Several companies, products, and technologies that are eco-friendly are highlighted too. The chapter concludes with a plea for each of us to do what we can to demand truthfulness in politics and media and advocate for green policies that benefit all of us in the long term.

Addendum A, “Endangered Species”, points out that “more than 37,400 species of animals and plants are known to be threatened with extinction.” p171. This section lists several pages of critically endangered, endangered, and near threatened animals.

Addendum B, “Our Carbon Footprint”, specifies what a carbon footprint is and ways households and individuals can reduce their carbon footprint. I would have liked to see a bit more here.

Addendum C, “The Green New Deal”, gives background information and an introduction to the Green New Deal and then prints it (the 116th Congress’ House Resolution 109) in its entirety. It’s always a good idea to read the actual text before listening to opinions on it.

Addendum D, “Additional Reading”, lists two pages of recommendations to learn more.

End notes: There are 20 pages of end notes with citations for claims made throughout the book.

Index: This will be very handy to look up information when using this book as a reference.

I thought this was an excellent book and resource. The author described the history leading to the situation today, looked ahead to possible scenarios in the future as the human population continues to increase, and considered multiple approaches that could be used to preserve our world in ways that conserve the current biodiversity while supporting human flourishing. The book is written for laypeople and is not too technical for those with little background on this subject. I highly recommend this book and hope many people read it.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Glass has taken the topic of climate change and made it easier to understand. He has taken all the scientific studies and written a book for everyone. If you want to understand the topic better than this is a book for you. I learned how humans have affected the planet from the beginning of humanity. We have used the resources we have been given without a thought of how we would survive if they ran out. This is a very interesting book.

Thank you to #goodreads, @BruceGlass, and @DBGPublishing for a copy of this book.

[HighPrairieBookworm - Jonni Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book in exchange for an honest review and I’m very happy I did. This is a good book to read if you’re interested in the background of climate change and the human roots of that change.

“The Anthropocene Epoch” goes over the historical effects of human hunting, migration, colonization, and on through industrialization. Wildlife extinctions and the effects of climate change explained in a readable, interesting way. This is a good book.

[Brian Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any readers with the lofty expectation that a book titled “The Anthropocene Epoch” will provide a riveting, “fasten your seatbelt, folks” narrative will be disappointed. Some early reviewers have aptly used the words “dry” and “boring” to describe this tome. The latter is harsh, but I have to embrace the “dry” label. Having said that, this short examination of “when humans charged the world” offers some insights. Any overview of existential challenges such as slowing population growth, grappling with climate change and better managing scarce natural resources is a worthwhile investment of time. However, the brevity of this book coupled with the author’s decision to serve up a ton of political discourse undermine its overall effectiveness. Glass seems to acknowledge this risk when he writes, “Some readers may be thinking this chapter has been too political, partisan, or polemic for a book about objective science.” Yes, yes and yes. True, it’s impossible to separate political decisions and governmental policies from the weighty issues mentioned above. But devoting fewer pages of this slim work to politics and more to examining detailed solutions or strategies to the problems would have made the book more enlightening.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers that this book started out well, but started to drag, especially with the insertion of an entire chapter on recent American politics.

Also, a little more editing wouldn’t hurt. The use of “But/Although [comma]” and “So [comma]” got annoying after a while because they should really be “However [comma]” and “Thus/Therefore [comma]” and so on. There were some mistakes like missing words or “-ed” instead of “-es” that could use correcting. The font size on page 41 suddenly enlarged in the middle of the page. Especially aggravating was the use of “tales” to describe the wagging thing on the back end of dogs. “Pastures” are where cows graze, not “pasters,” and a “populace” is motivated, not a “populous.”

At some point, I took out a pencil and started marking the book up. A couple of mistakes of this sort are alright, but more than that are not acceptable.

[Judith Gibbons · Rating 4 out of 5]

In general this is an excellent summary of climate change and efforts to address it. I was disappointed, however, in the author's inclusion and incorrect interpretation of some psychological studies. There is no evidence that people who are field-dependent (a mostly cognitive style and not dichotomous) would seek stong leaders to help them navigate information. And the author also mixes up the terms authoritarian and authoritative. Although these mistakes are relatively minor, when I see mistakes in a field I know well, I have less confidence in his other scientific reports. Don't misunderstand, I know there is excellent evidence for cliimate change. I just would like to read it from a more trustworthy author.

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book for free as a Goodreads giveaway

I really enjoyed this book and thought it did a good job of explaining how humans are changing the planet and what can be done. It got into the cultural issues as well as the practical challenges. I only wish it talked more about meat production and its negative impact, where instead it focused on reducing meat and making it more sustainable.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

With a title like this, this book had so much potential. But in the end, it was simply a rant for climate change and politics. The author even went as far as to talk about masks for cow burbs but never even mentioned efforts for regenerate agriculture. It's very one-sided, unfortunately, even though the message was trying to preach the need to work together for the future of humanity.

[Amy Ingalls]

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[David Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a quick, readable summary of the natural history of life on Earth in the first half, and a discussion of the environmental changes currently occurring in the second half. All of it appears to be well researched and accurate, with extensive notes and a bibliography at the end even though this is written by a non-academic for a general audience.

The second half of the book focuses primarily on things happening in the United States, so the work takes a distinctly provincial view that makes the work overall suffer for the lack of a more global focus. Also, people of a politically conservative persuasion will likely feel personally attacked and not be able to make it through the middle chapters. The concluding section about what we can do to address the changing environment is relatively brief, with a notable lack of focus on what individual people can and should be doing - it's definitely not prescriptive or preachy in that regard. As a result of the topics covered and how the author frames them, the title seems misleading to me - the focus is really just on the most recent 1% of the Anthropocene epoch, so it's basically just a discussion of "what's going on right now?". Nevertheless, as a person with a strong science background I did enjoy this work.

I received this book as a free advanced reading copy, but this review is my own opinion.

[Shai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. This is a short novel filled with scientific facts and information. It tells us about the journey man has taken. Mostly though, it is about climate change. The first couple chapters are interesting, but then it becomes another “we are killing the world” book. The information is good and the science is solid. The title is just a little misleading with what exactly the message of the book is.