ABSTRACT
The term “Anthropocene” has been used to refer to our current geological epoch, though not undebated. The Anthropocene is best characterized by the widespread and largely irreversible impacts that humans have had on the planet. The impacts of climate change further complicate other global issues like the current COVID-19 pandemic, where shelter-in-place orders for virus safety stand at odds with evacuation orders in the face of disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. The imperative to address climate change and secure a more just future for generations to come has seen decades of international mobilization around the issue. Grassroots movements have played a critical role in defending frontline communities from localized threats produced by fossil fuel industries. Powerful movements led by Indigenous peoples and people of color have mobilized across the globe, grounding the climate justice movements with first-hand experience of injustice.
