Abstract
In response to Clive Hamilton’s claim that the only acceptable definition of the Anthropocene must be based on Earth System Science (ESS) as a new paradigm, I suggest, from my personal perspective, that ESS as a new paradigm differs significantly from its 20th century predecessors in the Earth Sciences by incorporating rather than rejecting previous, partial syntheses of Earth System function. More crucial to its emergence as a new paradigm are its future orientation and the incorporation of human activities as an integral component. Moreover, non-scientific framing of the concept of the Anthropocene has already become so widespread within the humanities and social sciences that abandoning it outside its ESS connotation is now unrealistic.
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