Physical geography in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Even as it remains an informal term defining the emergence of humans as a force transforming Earth as a system, the Anthropocene is stimulating novel research and discussion across the academy and well beyond. While geography has always been deeply connected with the coupled human–environment paradigm, physical geographer’s embrace of the Anthropocene still appears lukewarm at best. While there are good reasons to hesitate, including the fact that the Anthropocene is not yet, and might never be, formalized in the Geologic Time Scale, physical geographers have much to gain by embracing what is rapidly becoming the most influential scholarly discussion on human–environmental relations in a generation. This editorial was commissioned for the author’s debut as Contributing Editor of Progress in Physical Geography. Copyright The Author(s) 2017.