The ‘Great Acceleration’ graphs, originally published in 2004 to show socio-economic and Earth System trends from 1750 to 2000, have now been updated to 2010. In the graphs of socio-economic trends, where the data permit, the activity of the wealthy (OECD) countries, those countries with emerging economies, and the rest of the world have now been differentiated. The dominant feature of the socio-economic trends is that the economic activity of the human enterprise continues to grow at a rapid rate. However, the differentiated graphs clearly show that strong equity issues are masked by considering global aggregates only. Most of the population growth since 1950 has been in the non-OECD world but the world’s economy (GDP), and hence consumption, is still strongly dominated by the OECD world. The Earth System indicators, in general, continued their long-term, post-industrial rise, although a few, such as atmospheric methane concentration and stratospheric ozone loss, showed a slowing or apparent stabilisation over the past decade. The post-1950 acceleration in the Earth System indicators remains clear. Only beyond the mid-20th century is there clear evidence for fundamental shifts in the state and functioning of the Earth System that are beyond the range of variability of the Holocene and driven by human activities. Thus, of all the candidates for a start date for the Anthropocene, the beginning of the Great Acceleration is by far the most convincing from an Earth System science perspective.

Will Steffen

Wendy Broadgate

Lisa Deutsch

Owen Gaffney

Cornelia Ludwig

The Anthropocene Review

THE ANTHROPOCENE REVIEW 是一份跨学科期刊，每年发行 3 次，汇集了来自地球与环境科学、社会科学、材料科学和人文科学的人类世研究各个方面的同行评议文章。

The Anthropocene Review is an interdisciplinary journal published three times a year, featuring peer-reviewed articles from various fields including Earth and environmental sciences, social sciences, materials science, and humanities, covering all aspects of research on the Anthropocene.

《Anthropocene Review》是一本跨学科的期刊，每年出版三期，汇集了来自地球与环境科学、社会科学、材料科学和人文科学等领域的同行评审文章，涵盖人类世研究的各个方面。

Category	Quartile
地球科学	2
地球科学, 环境科学	3
地球科学, 环境研究	3
地球科学, 地球科学综合	3

The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY	2