The Anthropocene

This book is devoted to the Anthropocene, the period of unprecedented human impacts on Earth’s environmental systems, and illustrates how Geographers envision the concept of the Anthropocene.

This edited volume illustrates that geographers have a diverse perspective on what the Anthropocene is and represents. The chapters also show that geographers do not feel it necessary to identify only one starting point for the temporal onset of the Anthropocene. Several starting points are suggested, and some authors support the concept of a time-transgressive Anthropocene. Chapters in this book are organized into six sections, but many of them transcend easy categorization and could have fit into two or even three different sections. Geographers embrace the concept of the Anthropocene while defining it and studying it in a variety of ways that clearly show the breadth and diversity of the discipline.

This book will be of great value to scholars, researchers, and students interested in geography, environmental humanities, environmental studies, and anthropology.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Annals of the American Association of Geographers.

David R. Butler is Texas State University System Regents’ Professor Emeritus, and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geography, Texas State University. His research interests include geomorphology in the Anthropocene, zoogeomorphology, dendrogeomorphology, and mountain environments and environmental change, especially in the Rocky Mountains.