In 2015- the present. We are currently living in the Anthropocene. Which has created an influence on our earth today to create an Anthropogenic change which has been a change on a global scale. It has changed the earths climate, land, biosphere and sea. However it also relates the actions of us humans and how we have influenced the earth we live in today. Humans have stopped being influenced by this planet and we have now influenced the geology of our world. The more humans that take place living on our earth, leads to the world being more populated which can very easily lead to overpopulation which isn’t too far off and could very well happen in the near future. If this were to occur in the Anthropocene it would effect food production, health care losses and housing affordability would grow substaintially. Urban cultures have spread rapidly causing urbanisation to accelerate now more than ever and has caused a population explosion”, in 2000 the population has risen from 1 billion to 6.5 billion which has lead to an estimated 6.5 billion in 2050.
With the population count contimnuming to rise, so has urbanisation. It has been estimated that over the next two decades the urban population will grow “by more than 300 million people” whom all need the same nessescities that we have in our daily lives now such as housing, water, food and jobs. Though by this big population boom, that could occur in the next two decades there is still issues that have risen that would still most likely to be a problem in the future such as pollution and social inequality would have to be addressed. (Vince, 2015) Though a positive from this can be taken from Chinas economic growth and industralisation- in which they have provided labour and consumers within a building hysteria they are currently in.
Due to bringing more consumers and the spike in the population, more buildings are being built to accomodate these new people. However this is being done in a way that impacts the environment in a negative way. This is being performed by cheap and poor construction methods which is not helping out the end product being built. Due to concrete being one of the worlds most used products in the world, reining in second in comparison to water, majority of it is manufactured in China. By being manufactured in this part of the world it is emitting more than one tonne of carbon dioxide to making one tonne of cement. Though due to the poor construction methods that have been utilised in the past, the buildings have been destroyed and been rebuilt- which in the end uses more materials and produces more carbon dioxide which has evidently created a negative end result on our earth by humans rebuilding more high rise towers due to the rapid increase of the human population. Which continues to grow everyday and if the same construction and urbanisation methods are being utilised than we will continue to live in the Anthropocene.
References
Vince, G. 2014, Adventures in the Anthropocene: A Journey to the Heart of the Planet We Made, Milkweed Editions, United States.
The Royal Institution 2015, ‘The Anthropocene – with Jan Zalasiewicz and Christian Schwägerl,’ YouTube, viewed 23 August 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP9P2i5jx-4>.
McMichael, A.J. 2014, ‘Population health in the Anthropocene: Gains, losses and emerging trends,’ The Anthropocene Review, vol. 1, no. 44-56.
Humans of the future 