Anthropocene

Anthropocene, the Age of Man, has cropped up as a significant term in today's society, more significantly so, as opposed to past history. Today in class, we discussed nature and the role we as humans play in influencing nature. It was interesting to see different views my classmates held towards nature and how we should go about living are lives in consideration of it.
Here is an article from National Geographic that delves into the history of human influence on earth, how to go about determining our influence, and also the history/meaning of Anthropocene.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/kolbert-text/1

Perhaps reading it will change some individuals' views on how greatly we've impacted the earth. As I've expressed today in class, I personally, feel it is our responsibility to take on the role of taking care of nature. Just as Goethe stated, humans must look towards nature with care, caution, respect, and awe.

When you look at how we've been able to sustain our species, nature is where we come from and allows us to live the life we live today. Nature is not here for us, we are here because of nature.
Our population is greater than it has ever been in history, and when the correlation between the growth of the human population is compared to, take for example, the earth's changing atmosphere and the population of other species, there is a noticeable affect that we've had. That may not be important to some,  but it's almost like a common courtesy... I like to think of it that way.
It would be nice if everyone could be courteous to the earth. As much as it provides for us, it shouldn't be that hard for us to spend a little more time doing things that, although may always not be comfortable as Austin had described, would help preserve nature and its beauty.

It's interesting how Anthropocene came about. Had our influence not become a problem or been significant, perhaps the word would not exist today.
Reading the article, it's also interesting to think of things from a future perspective. How would they look back in time and describe our impact on earth? I'd like to think that future historians can look back and say we made Goethe proud.