Climate Change And Human Culture: Anthropocene

Use a historical perspective to make an argument about the relationship between. Climate change and human culture Your Name Course No. Professor UNIVERSITY CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN CULTURE During the Holocene era, human culture was tied to the environment. The human interaction with naturewas largely as they extracted natural resources for their survival. This human-ecological interplay did not lead to wanton destruction of the environment. Then anthropocene emergedpresaged by massive industrialization and fossil fuel extraction. The advent of the steam engine and other forms of industrialization prior to the second WWII marked the beginning of greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere sparked the onset of ozone layer depletion, thus leading to global warming. Subsequently, this paved way for climate change, and subsequently, climate changes. This essay argues that it’s human culture that triggered anthropocene even though anthropocene and the great acceleration are also to blame for the persistent human cultural depletion. The link between human culture and climate change is indisputable. Different scholars and scientists have explored the relationship between climate change and culture. Although divergent views as pertains to the interpretation and meaning of the anthropocene exist, there is scholastic concurrently that the looming disaster was elicited by climate change (Vansintjin 2015, p4). More so, its impact on human culture cannot be overemphasized. The emission of greenhouse gases that has begun with the advent and subsequent use of fossil fuels has caused gaseous imbalance within the stratosphere. The greenhouse gases have continually depleted the Ozone layer that hitherto protected the planet from the intensity of the sun. This has been further exacerbated by human activities such as deforestation and poor land use practices that have triggered global warming and subsequently climate change. The climatic changes resulting from global change have had a significant impact on people’s way of life. Although Vansintjin (2015) contends that the anthropocene phenomenon cannot primarily be attributed to human activities but a combination of diverse processes and events, he however, acknowledges that nature and culture are inseparable, and so are human desires and natural forces (Vansintjin, 2015, p.5). Global warming and climate change have adversely affected the natural ecosystems within which human beings exist. Given the link between human culture and nature, it goes without saying that climate change has adversely impacted on human life. The advent of human civilization progressively led to the formation of different institutions such as the military, police forces, capitalism and power relations between people of different classes (Vansintjin, 2015, p.5). It is these institutions that have progressively led to the destruction of human culture and overexploitation natural resources. This combination of diverse human activities linked to human civilization has upset the ecological balance that triggered anthropocene and ‘The Great Acceleration’ between 1950-2000 (Vansintjin, 2015, p.5). Anthropocene is a grave issue of human concern given the impact of climate change on human c...