anthro(po)cene

[Wilson Gray]

"Anthrocene"?! Please! "Androcene"! FWIW, "anthropocene' is the
superior term, to the extent that it doesn't exclude women on the one
hand and isn't pretentious pswaydo-learned gibberish on the other.

-Wilson

On 2/8/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      anthro(po)cene
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The term "anthropocene", to quote Wikipedia, "is used by some
> scientists to describe the most recent period in the Earth's history,
> starting in the 18th century when the activities of the human race
> first began to have a significant global impact on the Earth's climate
> and ecosystems." It was apparently coined by Paul Crutzen in 2000.
> (Erin McKean posted here in Sep. 2003 about Crutzen's coinage claim.)
>
> Andrew Revkin, a New York Times science writer, has pointed out that
> he came up with a similar coinage in 1992: "anthrocene", as used in
> his book _Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast_. From Revkin's
> Amazon blog (2/7/07):
>
> -----
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1L2TYV56JXF2V
> I wrote: "We are entering an age that might someday be referred to as,
> say, the Anthrocene. After all, it is a geological age of our own
> making. The challenge now is to find a way to act that will make
> geologists of the future look upon this age as a remarkable time, a
> time in which a species began to take into account the long-term
> impact of its actions. The alternative will be to leave a legacy of
> irresponsibility and neglect that will manifest itself in the fossil
> record as just one more mass extinction -- like the record of bones
> and empty footprints left behind by the dinosaurs."
> Recently, a slightly different (and probably technically more
> appropriate) phrase, the "Anthropocene," has emerged, coined in 2000
> by Paul Crutzen, the Nobel-winning atmospheric chemist, and Eugene
> Stoermer (Crutzen, P. J., and E. F. Stoermer. 2000. The
> "Anthropocene". Global Change Newsletter. 41: 12-13.). It has popped
> up in quite a few media accounts and books since then.
> I'd love to find out if anyone can track down any references to a
> proposed naming of this era along these lines (Anthrocene,
> Anthropocene, etc) before 1992. This is my beat for the rest of my
> career, and it'd be kind of fun to think I came up with an appropriate
> name for it all those years ago.
> -----
>
> Anyone know of pre-'92 cites for "anthro(po)cene" or similar names?
> Revkin asks that references be sent to him at <revkin at nytimes.com>.
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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