Changing the Face of the Earth: Modern Climate Change and the Longer History of the Anthropocene

Two volumes stand as landmarks in the early intellectual history of Anthropocene studies, the 1955 Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth, and the 1990 The Earth as Transformed by Human Action. These collections are notable bringing together earth scientists, geographers, demographers, and environmental historians in the common effort to describe anthropogenic change to natural systems. The scope of their efforts anticipated the Stockholm Resilience Institutes planetary boundary framework; what they lacked was the benefit of the massive expansion of earth systems analysis that now underpins our conception of the Anthropocene, but what they established was a sense of emerging crisis. This commentary will examine the ways in which these and other mid-twentieth century planetary perspectives on human environmental impacts informed the intellectual background for our recent understanding of the “Anthropocene.”