A study published in the journal Nature reveals that global mass of goods produced by humankind now exceeds that of all life on earth. This is a stark warning on our growing domination of the planet.
If all of humanity was wiped out tomorrow, it's estimated that the natural world would take at least five million years to recover from the damage humans have done to the world.
Almost a century ago, New Zealand and Australia were at the forefront of an environmental crisis that forewarned of humanity's global impact -- erosion. It left its mark on culture.
'Antarctic cities' residents care deeply about the continent, with environmental concerns outweighing economic priorities. Asked about its future, they feel a mix of hope, pessimism and sadness.
It marked the point when humans began to exert a geologically-huge influence on the environment.
The pangolin, one of the most poached animals in the world, could have served as an intermediate host in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans.
Wahyudi/AFP
The hope is that the biodiversity targets translate directly into what individual countries, cities, companies and even families can adopt as tangible actions.
Though its use has grown in the last decade, the Anthropocene concept has been around since the 19th century.
John Cobb/Shutterstock
The term Anthropocene - previously known only to geologists and academics - has hit the mainstream. Now it's being tweeted as shorthand for the negative effects humans have had on the planet.
Oil tankers load up in a port at twilight.
Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
The Great Acceleration inaugurated the Anthropocene in the 1950s. Now, a similar race for resources and space is happening in the ocean.
NASA ‘could not imagine the radical effect of seeing the Earth’ from the moon. In the face of a climate catastrophe, we all need to step back and see the Earth again.
Bill Anders/NASA/Handout
Historical perspective can offer much in this time of ecological crisis,. Many historians are reinventing their traditional scales of space and time to tell different kinds of stories that recognise the unruly power of nature.
Pictured is a slag pile at Broken Hill in New South Wales. Slag is a man-made waste product created during smelting.
Anita Parbhakar-Fox
Manufacturing minerals is an expanding field of study. Making more of them could help alleviate various pressures faced by our growing population. But how are they made, and where can they be used?
If sci-fi films mirror the world's contemporary dystopian anxieties, then over the years Star Wars has gone from nuclear war to environmental collapse.