1945/1950
The Anthropocene Project. An Encyclopedia
Where lies the golden spike, the accountable birthdate of the Anthropocene? 1945, just three weeks after the United Nations Charta was signed, when near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first atomic bomb was exploded above ground and the winds ever since then have moved anthropogenic radioactivity around the world? Or in the 1950s, where graphs mark the start of the so-called great acceleration: when the numbers for fertilizer and water usage, tourism, telephones, and automobiles began to increase so rapidly. Accompanied by an increase in CO2 values and the shrinkage of diversity and resources. Or, seen historically, with the first factories and the start of the industrial revolution in the 18th century? Rather the French Revolution and the disappearance of the Estates in Europe, if we’re somewhat cynical? While in official commissions there is debate, it is for others pretty much irrelevant when everything began, much more important is the question of how those incredible changes and consequences can be handled.
