Education During Anthropocene, Capitalocene, and Chthulucene

Abstract

The history of the planet Earth spans about 4.5 billion years. But the emergence of early humans, including their now-extinct ancestors (hominins), is a more recent phenomenon with a history of 6-8 million years. Bipedalism, the capacity to walk on foot freeing hands for other purposes, began some 4-5 million years ago. The use of fire and tools has a history of about two million years. The emergence of the Homo sapiens, the modern human beings, dates back only to 2-300,000 years, and the beginning of the use of complex tools, language and arts has a history of a mere 100,000 years. All this means that in the long geological calendar, humans are just one small part of the whole system of the planet Earth – its features, living beings, and things. But lately, the scenario has changed and humans and their activities have been creating a great impact on the planet. Environmental pollutions, mounds of plastics, rising temperatures, and sea levels, etc. are just a few examples. The imprints or permanent marks of human actions are now clearly visible on earth and its systems and the argument is that such effects are now going to be permanent in the life of the earth (Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000).