ABSTRACT
The term “Anthropocene” is now increasingly used to denote the current era in the earth’s history, where human activities have become the major driver of environmental change. This term was coined by the ecologist Eugene F. Stoermer and introduced into the literature by Paul J. Crutzen (2002), who won the 1995 Nobel Prize for his research on atmospheric chemistry and stratospheric ozone depletion (the so-called “ozone hole”). The Holocene era, which fostered the birth of civilizations over the past 10,000 years, has, in this century, given way to a warming earth that is also overcrowded and severely deforested, with many of its productive soils being lost at an unprecedented rate. The immediate future poses many challenges, but also presents many opportunities for innovation and change. In this chapter, we will elaborate on climate change-the biggest challenge facing humankind-as we move from the Holocene to the Anthropocene. It is in this context that we consider how our use of soils can be both a cause of, and a potential answer to meeting, this challenge.
