Earth Day, the Anthropocene, and the Language Classroom:
Bringing Environmental Responsibility into the Conversation
Each year Earth Day encourages reflection on the condition of the planet we share—and what we have done to it. In recent decades, scientists and historians have increasingly used the term Anthropocene to describe our present moment, a proposed geological era in which human activity has become a dominant force shaping the Earth’s climate, oceans, and ecosystems more so for the worse.
The idea is unsettling.
For most of human history, nature molded civilization. Yet today, civilization increasingly deforms nature. Forests disappear in decades rather than in centuries. Glaciers that took thousands of years to form are melting within a generation. Oceans that once seemed vast enough to absorb anything are now showing unmistakable signs of stress, as well as our refuse.