Orals: Tue, 5 May, 10:45–12:10 | Room -2.31
Anthropogenic material fluxes have reached magnitudes comparable to natural biological and geological processes, yet they are rarely addressed within integrated Earth system frameworks. Iron, the most abundantly extracted metal from Earth’s lithosphere, is primarily used for steel production and constitutes a fundamental material basis of modern infrastructure and societal development worldwide. However, data on iron extraction, production, and use remain fragmented across national inventories and are rarely spatially linked to end-use sectors, limiting our ability to assess its role in the Anthropocene Earth system.
Here, we present a new approach based on global technogeochemical flows and apply it to the approximately 2 Gt yr⁻¹ anthropogenic flows of iron. We synthesize disparate datasets using the SESAME gridding tools to demonstrate how iron extracted from a limited number of locations, about 2.3% of global land grid cells, is transformed through a similarly concentrated set of steel production sites, about 2.7% of land grid cells, before accumulating in widely distributed in-use stocks. Using a spatiotemporal, grid-based material flow analysis combined with a tariff-weighted gravity model, we link iron extraction and steel production to end-use sectors at the full planetary scale.
Our results show that Eastern Asia functions as the dominant global locus of iron flows from extraction to in-use, accounting for over 50% of global crude steel production and nearly 44% of total in-use stock accumulation between 2000 and 2016. At the global scale, the network flow models indicate that approximately 2/3 of total mass displacement occur between iron source locations and steel production sites, about 10.4 Tt·km, while 1/3 occurs between steel production and in-use locations, about 5.2 Tt·km. This combined displacement exceeds the total mobility of all human beings by a factor of four.
By explicitly resolving the spatial and temporal interconnections of iron flows, this work advances a systems-based understanding of how industrial economic processes are physically embedded within the Earth system. The approach highlights the uneven spatial distribution of societal pressures and material dependencies that underpin sustainability challenges in the Anthropocene. More broadly, this spatiotemporal framework can be extended to other critical minerals, offering a pathway toward integrative and transformative research on Earth and societies.
How to cite: Faisal, A. A., Kaye, M., and Galbraith, E.: Global Technogeochemical Flows of Iron from Lithosphere to Technosphere, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5854, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5854, 2026.
Air pollution is one of the most serious challenges at the interface between the Earth system and societies, linking atmospheric processes, climate dynamics, human health, and social vulnerability. While advances in atmospheric and Earth system sciences have substantially improved the understanding of pollutant sources, transport, and threats, integration of societal dimensions into air pollution research remains uneven and conceptually fragmented. Here, we present a systematic literature review that examines how air pollution as interlinkage between Earth system and societies is conceptualised, operationalised, and addressed across interdisciplinary research. Following the PRISMA framework, we screened 1,297 peer-reviewed publications retrieved from the SCOPUS database using a structured search string spanning Earth system sciences, air pollution, and societal dimensions. A combination of a Large Language Model-assisted abstract screening, topic modelling, and full-text qualitative synthesis resulted in the final references of 104 interdisciplinary studies. We analyse temporal and geographic trends, emergent research themes, conceptual framings, and persistent barriers to integration. The literature is dominated by health impacts and air quality monitoring, while governance, equity, and justice perspectives remain marginal. We identify five main operationalisations of the air pollution as Earth system and societies interlinkage: (1) Emissions-to-exposure pathways, (2) Capacity to adapt to atmospheric load, (3) Monitoring and decision infrastructures, (4) Societal interventions as levers of change, and (5) Institutions, commons, and justice framings. Most studies treat societal systems as external drivers or endpoints, rather than as constitutive elements of coupled Earth and societies dynamics. Across the references, recurring barriers include data and monitoring gaps, methodological and scale mismatches between natural and social sciences, weak institutional coordination, and the limited integration of participatory and justice-oriented approaches. We argue that advancing air pollution research as Earth and societies interlinkages requires moving beyond additive interdisciplinarity toward integrative and interdisciplinary co-produced frameworks that embed e.g., social institutions, power relations, and equity and justice to identify key research needs. Strengthening this integration is critical for developing effective, legitimate and equitable air quality intervention measures towards sustainability within planetary boundaries.
How to cite: Alas, H. D., Govender, M., Glaser, M., Marcovecchio, G., Schaefer-Rolffs, U., Birkicht, M., Grossart, H.-P., Abel, D., Macke, A., and Schanze, J.: Air pollution as Earth and societies interlinkage: A systematic literature review on emerging themes, conceptualisations, and important gaps, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-9328, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9328, 2026.
The past century of increases in human population and resource consumption has produced some undesirable effects, ranging from environmental degradation to political unrest. We are accustomed to seeing these dependent variables charted with time on the x-axis. But this study presents metrics of biodiversity, consumption, and pollution and their extremely strong correlations when charted against human population size. Then we suggest that a more rapid yet non-coercive lowering of global Total Fertility Rates to 1.75 by 2050, and holding there, will produce many benefits for current and future generations of our own species and for nature. Among these benefits are reduced CO2 emissions, habitat recovery, protection of wild species, reduction of poverty, and reduced conflict over scarce resources.
How to cite: Keegan, M.: Gently easing population to 4 billion by 2200 would help people and nature, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1998, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1998, 2026.
The planetary boundaries (PBs) represent key Earth system processes and their safe limits to maintain planetary resilience and stability. The 2023 assessment reflects that the Earth has transgressed six of nine boundaries while the 2025 Planetary Health Check indicates that a seventh has been breached. Given that human pressures are driving these transgressions, guidance is needed for translating planetary-scale limits into decision-relevant inputs for local actors. Sustainability reporting standards provide business organizations with guidelines for disclosing their impacts but often do not require benchmarking against the PBs. Interactions across disclosure categories are also not captured in target-setting. Tools are needed to help organizations assess their performance while bridging local pressures to planetary impacts.
To this end, Lade et al. (2021) formulated a prototype Earth System Impact (ESI) metric which enables evaluations of an organization’s systemic impacts on climate, land, and water in relation to the 2015 PBs translated into sub-global guardrails. Interaction strengths for climate, land and water at the sub-global scale were derived from 1901-2013 simulations from a dynamic global vegetation model, LPJmL4. Feedback modeling was applied to estimate the impacts of pressures given these interaction strengths and to determine the extent to which pressure in one component of the Earth system is amplified into impacts in other components. Final ESI scores were produced by weighting impacts on climate, land and water with current state as of 2013 to account for existing degradation.
We present an update to the ESI which uses LPJmL5 simulations from 1901-2023 to estimate interaction strengths. Sub-global clusters were updated to include dominantly barren land types in additions to forests and grasses. We then draw from both the 2023 PBs and the 2025 Earth Commission safe and just Earth-system boundaries to develop sub-global guardrails. For water, we set guardrails for both wet and dry deviations from a preindustrial baseline. Current conditions are updated to 2023.
Overall, amplification of impacts increased compared to the prototype, largely due to how all runoff deviations are considered adverse. Notably, the effects of deforestation on the earth system are doubled to tripled. Most barren land experienced no net amplification except in Australia and Africa (~39% and 65%, respectively) where surface water scarcity is aggravated. The final ESI metrics were higher in smaller areas (e.g. C3 grass ecosystems in Africa), indicative of the sensitivity of smaller ecosystems to anthropogenic pressures compared to the relative resilience of larger intact land with greater surface water availability. Insights from the ESI metrics can aid businesses, investors, and potentially the public sector in planning future developments by providing a basis for comparing impacts of assets in different sites globally beyond just carbon emissions. The ESI can help with setting site-specific targets for environmental performance that are aligned with sub-global guardrails, and, in this way, facilitate a shift towards a “business within boundaries” paradigm that supports sustainability transformations.
Lade, S. J., Fetzer, I., Cornell, S. E., & Crona, B. (2021). A prototype Earth system impact metric that accounts for cross-scale interactions. Environmental Research Letters, 16(11), 115005.
How to cite: Gotangco Gonzales, C. K., Lade, S., Amellina, A., Chaudhary, N., Crona, B., Fetzer, I., Fiedler, T., Marone, D., Parlato, G., Rocha, J., Wang Erlandsson, L., and Zoller, H.: An updated Earth System Impact metric for bridging sub-global pressures and planetary boundaries, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4590, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4590, 2026.
What Could Geosociology Be? Preliminary Considerations on the Sociology of the Earth
Geosociology represents a fundamental shift in sociological inquiry, moving away from treating nature as an extra-social entity to viewing the Earth and society as a single, entangled reality. This "Sociology of the Earth" is increasingly necessary considering the planetary crises called ‘Anthropocene’, which reveal that social life is deeply embedded in planetary dynamics that shape the atmosphere, continents and oceans. What were exogenous drivers in the Holocene become endogenous processes in the Anthropocene.
The presentation portrays sociology as a methodological science, drawing a parallel to geology. Much as a geologist observes physical strata, a sociologist observes the "layered" realities of social institutions. This comparison facilitates a dialogue between the two fields as epistemic equals, establishing a foundation for an interdisciplinary field.
Central to this perspective is the anthropological shift. Drawing on Bruno Latour, the text argues that humans must be understood as "terrestrials" or "earthlings." This rejects the modern illusion of human autonomy and acknowledges that social achievements—like urbanisation—are essentially geo-social arrangements. It further builds upon classical schools of thought, for example, Ibn Khaldun, who in his Muqaddimah (1377) observed how specific landscapes and resource availability (such as the contrast between desert and hill dwellers) shape social organisation.
The proposed epistemology of Geosociology navigates the space between social construction and material reality. While Berger and Luckmann famously defined reality as a social construct, Geosociology suggests that geological knowledge is a hybrid: it is mediated by human frameworks but anchored in the independent expedition into the telluric.
The presentation also addresses the linguistic dimension, specifically the use of geological metaphors (e.g., "social tectonics") to convey broader concepts, such as ‘deep time’. While these tools help visualise complexity, Geosociology insists on critical reflection on whether they illuminate realities or merely aestheticize social matters. As Markus Schroer (2022) suggests, sociology must venture beyond the humanities into biology and geology to go beyond such metaphors and learn how to keep constant contact with reality.
The multifaceted notion of the Anthropocene serves as the pivotal diagnostic tool, demonstrating that human activity has become peers with geological forces. This realisation challenges Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of the world as "everything that is the case" by asking whether the Earth's facticity carries ethical weight.
Finally, inspired by Auguste Comte’s dictum that science leads to foresight, Geosociology looks toward the future. It even touches on "extraterrestrial sociology," citing Cixin Liu’s novel The Dark Forest, which posits that, as civilisations grow, the quantity of matter remains constant. Hence, ultimately, the recently coined neologism Geosociology integrates deep-time perspectives with social action, for intra- and extra-terrestrial Earthlings.
Literature:
Berger / Luckmann: The Social Construction of Reality, 1991
Cixin Liu: The Dark Forest, 2015
Comte: Cours de philosophie positive, 1830
Grutzpalk: Strong Metaphors for Invisible Actants, 2016
Ibn Khaldun: Al Muqaddimah, 1377
Latour: Où suis-je ?: Leçons du confinement à l'usage des terrestres, 2021
Schroer: Geosoziologie, 2022
Wallenhorst / Wulf: Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, 2024
Wittgenstein: Tractatus logico-philosophicus, 1921
How to cite: Grutzpalk, J. and Bohle, M.: What Could Geosociology Be? Preliminary Considerations on the Sociology of the Earth, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3965, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3965, 2026.
In the early 2000s, the Anthropocene was proposed by Paul J. Crutzen, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and Earth system scientist, as a new geological epoch dominated by human activities and a new noosphere yet to come (Crutzen et Stoermer 2000; Crutzen 2002). In this sense, the Anthropocene Working Group was created in 2009 to try to get the Anthropocene officially recognized within the geological time scale. (Zalasiewicz et al. 2008; 2019). Since then, controversy surrounding its work has continued to grow within the natural and social sciences, culminating in its rejection by geological institutions in March 2024 (International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) 2024).
What should be done with this concept, given its rejection? What research review can be drawn from the debates on the subject? And how can we continue to foster dialogue between disciplines in order to meet the vital challenges of this new epoch?
The aim of this proposal is to show that the Anthropocene requires a new transdisciplinary field of research, which could be called “Anthropocenology.” Far from being based on nothing, this new field could draw on research in Earth system sciences (Steffen et al. 2018), geological sciences (Zalasiewicz et al. 2021), and social sciences (Latour 2017), which accompanied the debates on the Anthropocene. Its ambition would be to continue creating new knowledge networks around the Anthropocene. (Thomas, Williams, et Zalasiewicz 2020), in order to better cope with the disruptions currently occurring from the Holocene Epoch (Wallenhorst et Wulf 2023). More specifically, the latest research on the Anthropocene has made the Great Acceleration a pivotal moment in the trajectory of human civilizations (Head et al. 2022; Syvitski et al. 2020), particularly in terms of the overall transformation of the relationship between science, technology, and society (STS).
In this sense, this proposal will draw on the latest online debates surrounding the Anthropocene to identify emerging knowledge on the subject. In terms of data, the focus will be on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of several thousand scientific websites and articles, following the methodology of controversy mapping. (Latour et al. 2012; Venturini et Munk 2021). On a theoretical level, the aim will be to identify knowledge, both online and in society, that will enable us to open up a new trajectory and reflexivity within the Anthropocene (Thomas et al. 2020; Wallenhorst et Wulf 2023; Renn 2020; Leinfelder 2024).
How to cite: Colombo, F.: Toward an Anthropocenology: foresting new networks of knowledge within the Anthropocene., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5770, 2026.
The Anthropocene is not only a human-driven geological epoch, as argued by the Earth System Sciences, but also a multi-faceted discourse on socio-ecological relations, as analysed by the social sciences and humanities. Within the Anthropocene discourse, several grand narratives compete for hegemony: The dominant ‘naturalist narrative’ claims that the human species has inadvertently altered the Earth system at a geological scale. The ‘post-nature narrative’ claims that nature is socially constructed and, thus, appropriate technology might tackle the planetary crisis. The ‘eco-catastrophist narrative’ highlights the unsustainable mode of production and consumption that drives the transgression of planetary boundaries towards tipping points. The ‘eco-Marxist narrative’ argues that capitalist elites in the core countries of the world-system accumulated profit and power through unequal economic and ecological exchange with the peripheries, where the resulting social and ecological costs undermine (non-)human habitability. Such highly abstract and complex notions of the Anthropocene can be assessed in a more concrete and simplified manner through the lens of commodities. By following a commodity across time and space, we can gain a broader and deeper understanding of the dynamics of the Anthropocene. As an example, the more-than-human network around soy has gained a broad and deep planetary footprint in the ‘Great Acceleration’ and its aftermaths. A soy-focused history of the Anthropocene – or ‘Soyacene’ – is relevant not only in academic research but also in public debates on the current polycrisis. By highlighting the socio-natural dynamics behind the Earth’s Anthropocene trajectory from a historical perspective, the soy lens gains useful insights for navigating the planetary crisis.
How to cite: Langthaler, E.: Navigating the Anthropocene through a Commodity Lens, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-7299, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-7299, 2026.
Current observations of the climate, ocean, biodiversity, soils, and freshwater indicate that the Earth system is undergoing rapid change that exceeds natural variability. The environmental sciences regard this development as a defining characteristic of the Anthropocene. The Earth system change, in turn, results in increasing societal impacts and risks due to resource depletion and deterioration, as well as global warming with more severe and frequent extreme events. While research in the earth, environmental, and social sciences has expanded in response, the complexity and scale of the phenomena require deeper integration combined with a focus on sustainability transformations.
This research identifies critical gaps in current Anthropocene research and proposes an approach for Integrative and Transformative Research on Earth and Societies. It emphasises three core areas: (i) multi-system approaches for Earth and societies to deal with the heterogeneity and dynamics of main interlinkages; (ii) system-based scientific rationales for societal agreement on planetary boundaries and societal goals for basic needs; and (iii) systemic innovations fostering transformations to reduce societal pressures on the environment and build resilience to Earth system impacts and risks according to planetary boundaries and societal goals, taking into account levers, perceptions and capacities.
The interface between the freshwater compartment of the Earth system and societies is used to explain the novel approach. This encompasses main water-related interlinkages, planetary boundaries relevant for freshwater change and societal goals for basic water needs; and innovations for reducing societal pressures on freshwater and strengthening resilience to water extremes.
How to cite: Shehayeb, R., Schanze, J., Gerten, D., Prys-Hansen, M., Tetzlaff, D., Abel, D., Dubbert, M., Düthmann, D., Fröhlich, C., Glaser, M., Gronenborn, D., Jöris, O., Moosdorf, N., and Grossart, H.-P.: Integrative and Transformative Research on Earth and Societies and its specificity for Freshwater , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20091, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20091, 2026.
Posters on site: Tue, 5 May, 16:15–18:00 | Hall X3
Mercury (Hg) is a volatile toxic metal with strong atmospheric mobility, making its biogeochemical cycle highly sensitive to climate change. A key challenge is distinguishing natural climate-driven variability from anthropogenic impacts. This study examines how colonisation and climate change have shaped Hg contamination across the Australia–Pacific region. Previous work shows increasing Hg deposition in remote environments since the colonial era. Here, we apply a multi-proxy framework—combining Hg isotopes, geochemistry, and robust chronologies derived from radiocarbon, lead-210, and plutonium dating—to lake sediments from southern Australia and sub-Antarctic islands (Macquarie and Campbell). These records allow us to separate long-range transport, anthropogenic emissions, invasive animal disturbance, and climate drivers such as the southern hemisphere westerly winds. By integrating isotopic, geochemical, and age-model data, we quantify Hg sources and accumulation rates, providing new insights into Hg cycling in lacustrine ecosystems under changing climate conditions.
How to cite: Schneider, M., Schneider, L., Saunders, K., Latimer, J., Roberts, S., Child, D., Fallon, S., Haberle, S., and Sun, R.: Pollution history and colonial-induced increase in the transport of mercury from Australia to Sub-Antarctic islands: using mercury isotopes to trace the source, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-316, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-316, 2026.
The Baltic Sea has a long history of anthropogenic disturbance, that started earlier than in most other coastal oceans and marginal seas. Especially in regions where shallow depths and limited space constrain the area that is available for anthropogenic use, conflicts of interest arise from the rising demand of multiple socio-economic players such as offshore wind, nature conservation, shipping, coastal protection, fishing, military, tourism and many more. The intensive use over many centuries has left long-lasting and partly irreversible traces on the seafloor and the benthic ecosystem. We aim to make the traces of different seafloor modulating processes such as bottom trawling, ship anchoring, propeller wake erosion, seabed constructions or material dumping visible using marine geophysical data of different resolution and spatial coverage. From this data, we can derive the spatial distribution and intensity of anthropogenic disturbances in the Baltic Sea and subsequently evaluate the pressures that they exert in certain areas. This approach is exemplified for propeller wakes that are generated by commercial ships, and that are not yet included in cumulative impact assessments. The results outline how single processes can exert pressures on the entire vertical sea, from the ocean-atmosphere boundary down to the seafloor and below, with likely impacts on ecosystem functioning and marine biodiversity. For propeller wakes, the broad spectrum of direct consequences suggests that the challenges associated with this anthropogenic stressor can only be met and moderated through intensive interdisciplinary research.
How to cite: Geersen, J., von Thenen, M., Feldens, P., Kaiser, J., and Stuckas, H.: The Baltic Seafloor in the Anthropocene: from societal pressures to sustainability transformations, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20277, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20277, 2026.
The Terai Arc Landscape is a unique subtropical landscape at the foot of the Himalayas, that sustains many keystone species, including the continental tiger (Panthera tigris). Conservation efforts have led to an increase of this species, increasing human-wildlife conflict significantly. To optimize the habitat suitability and reduce conflict, conservationists aim to implement various interventions in Bardia District. However, this ecologically and geomorphologically complex landscape is understudied, making it difficult to estimate the potential impact of different interventions.
Therefore, this study aims to reconstruct past ecosystem states and drivers of the Bardia landscape to help estimate the outcomes of conservation measures. To achieve this, sediment cores were collected and analyzed for sedimentary ancient DNA, combining shotgun sequencing with mitochondrial mammalian capture, providing a vegetation- and land use history. In addition, the fluvial history of the sampling sites was investigated using grainsize analysis and x-ray fluorescence.
The results from these cores indicate consistent, low-intensity human land use over the last centuries. Only in the last few decades, does the intensity increase, likely due to a confirmed migration wave of people from the hill regions of Nepal to the lowlands after the eradication of Malaria. However, before this, changes in vegetation composition appear more so due to geomorphological change. Namely, one lake is an oxbow lake that was shaped from a past channel of the Karnali river. The combination of past vegetation and fluvial history shows how the severing of the meander from the river led to a fairly fast transition of riverine grassland and forest to a wetland-environment with denser vegetation.
This finding is particularly relevant for Bardia National Park, as the river branch that currently determines its western boundary, the Geruwa, appears to be undergoing a process of disconnection from the Karnali and thus becoming ephemeral or even drying up. Our outcomes show that such a transition can rather quickly affect the presence of riverine grasslands, which are seen as crucial for the tiger, thus affecting habitat suitability. A potential outcome of such a habitat change could be the movement of tigers towards other riverine grasslands nearby, which have a higher human population density, thus increasing the risk of human-wildlife conflict.
One of the interventions proposed by park managers is to artificially keep the Geruwa branch of the Karnali open by removing gravel from blocked channels. This study demonstrates that although this is a somewhat controversial measure, it could actually be desirable in terms of maintaining the tiger population within the National park rather than outside of it. This highlights how assessing past environments can meaningfully contribute to making optimal conservation decisions in challenging contexts.
How to cite: Kleijwegt, Z., Nota, K., Vernot, B., Atag, G., and Larsen, A.: Past Landscape Dynamics as a Guide for Conservation Interventions in Bardia National Park, Nepal, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-7554, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-7554, 2026.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly highlighted in climate adaptation policy, yet spatial planning still lacks operational tools to identify where NbS are most feasible and desirable. This contribution develops an NbS potential mapping framework that combines an ESG perspective with ecosystem-service modelling, and illustrates its first implementation in Taiwan using InVEST carbon storage as a prototype for the Environmental/Ecosystem (E) dimension.
We reinterpret ESG as Ecosystem (services)–Social–Governance and organise the framework into three stages: Identification, Assessment, and Retrospective Validation. In the Identification stage, national land-use data are reclassified into nine categories (forests and conservation areas, agricultural land, residential areas, industrial and commercial zones, infrastructure and utilities, coastal and marine areas, water bodies and river systems, urban green and recreational spaces, and mixed/special use zones). Each category is assigned initial qualitative E, S and G attributes based on environmental sensitivity, social exposure, and governance conditions relevant to climate risk and adaptation.
To move from qualitative “environment” toward quantified natural capital, we implement the E dimension using the InVEST Carbon Storage model. Carbon stocks are estimated for different land-use types and normalised to produce an E indicator that is applied as an additional constraint on the initial E category: within each land-use class, areas with higher carbon storage are flagged as high natural capital. We test this ESG–ecosystem services framework in two contrasting Taiwanese landscapes—a coastal wetland–aquaculture system and a mountain catchment affected by landslide-related hazards—to generate NbS potential maps that highlight combinations of high natural capital, high climate risk, and feasible governance conditions.
For retrospective validation, we compare our ESG land-use definitions and the spatial pattern of NbS potential with published ESG-based environmental scoring and NbS selection studies in similar land-use contexts, to check whether our classification logic and prioritisation are consistent with independent frameworks. Rather than delivering a full national ecosystem-service assessment, this work focuses on the structure of the ESG–ecosystem services framework and a first, carbon-based NbS potential map, designed to be progressively enriched with additional quantified ecosystem services. In future work we plan to refine the framework through structured expert feedback (e.g. a Delphi process), and invite interested researchers to contribute to this co-development.
How to cite: Wu, Y.-H., Wu, J.-Y., Chen, Z.-S., and Chung, M.-K.: Developing an NbS potential map with an ESG–ecosystem services framework: integrating InVEST carbon storage in Taiwan, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-15664, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-15664, 2026.
Integrating the human components into the Earth system framework can help fill the existing gap between the science of the natural world and society, thereby deepening our understanding of socio-environmental relationship. In the Anthropocene, these human-Earth interactions have intensified, particularly driven by the acceleration of resource-use since the Industrial Revolution. The growth of the technosphere, which refers to the global assemblage of non-food human-creations including machineries, infrastructure, and buildings, has played a central mechanistic role in this acceleration.
Here, we present an idealized model to couple the dynamics of the technosphere with other Earth spheres and to capture its interaction with human activities. The key driver of the numerical model is a dynamic time allocation of the human population to food provision, technosphere construction, or services, based on a competition of state-dependent motivations. The products of the activities computed from the labour and efficiency, together with Earth system feedbacks, thereby impact the motivations during the next time step. The mass of the technosphere contributes to the efficiency of human activities. We compare model outputs with historical data and find that the simulation reproduces trends in the global food supply, technosphere mass accumulation, and their feedback on the change of the sectoral labour distribution since 1900. The study establishes a novel integrated framework for advancing systemic human–Earth coupling, paving the way for country-level and grid-scale analyses in the future.
How to cite: Su, Y. and Galbraith, E.: An idealized model of the coupled human-technosphere-Earth system and hindcast from 1900, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13361, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13361, 2026.
This contribution examines the applicability of the Doughnut Economics framework as a systemic and ethically grounded analytical tool for navigating socio-ecological challenges of the Anthropocene. Focusing on a comparative analysis of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria, the paper develops a regional Doughnut model that captures both national performance and relational interdependencies across ecological ceilings and social foundations. By situating these four countries within a shared socio-ecological system, the analysis highlights asymmetries, spillover effects, and structural interconnections that are often obscured in single-country sustainability assessments. Methodologically, the study builds on the transformative model developed by the Institute for Political Ecology (IPE) in Zagreb and further advances it through an integrated indicator framework that combines Doughnut Economics, selected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and a relational, colour-coded diagnostic logic. This approach enables a systemic reading of the Anthropocene as a condition marked not only by biophysical limits but also by socio-economic inequalities, governance failures, and uneven responsibility for ecological overshoot. Beyond diagnosis, the paper engages directly with key ethical and political questions raised by the Anthropocene concept: how to communicate systemic limits without foreclosing future imaginaries; how to use scientific frameworks to challenge public policy without technocratic determinism; and how to translate structural diagnosis into actionable yet hopeful transformation pathways. By comparing countries across different development trajectories and governance regimes, the study demonstrates that the Doughnut Economy can function as more than a sustainability narrative; it can operate as a replicable scientific methodology that supports reflexive governance, informs public debate, and fosters ethically grounded responses to Anthropocene conditions. The findings contribute to interdisciplinary discussions on how systemic concepts of the Anthropocene can be operationalised in ways that retain both analytical rigour and transformative potential.
How to cite: Safet, K.: Comparing Pathways through the Anthropocene and semi periphery perspective:A Doughnut Economics Assessment of Four European States , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-9905, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9905, 2026.
The Anthropocene debates are rooted in epistemological differences. Geologists seek temporal metrics of spatially-even anthropogenic impact. Thus, they favor geologic data that fit this category. Humanists and social scientists, on the other hand, tend to focus on the negative effects of spatial unevenness. Without linking the Anthropocene’s temporal and spatial components, the intention for it to be useful for wider segments of society will be futile. By recognizing threshold moments in human history, the uneven spatial distributions of anthropogenic damage can be traced to specific events, thus actualizing the predictive value of geology. We argue that the Anthropocene started in the 17th century with a shift in worldview that resulted in removing the “spirit” from nature and thus it could be rendered, as Newton put it, “brute,” and it could consequently be viewed as a natural resource readily available for extractive economies. By removing the spiritual value--or enchantment--from nature, the notion of protecting nature for its own good was lost to extracting profit for the benefit of the economic elites.
Acknowledging such a worldview shift makes more legible two fundamental dynamics between human and natural trajectories: the intensification of global inequity coterminous with the intensification of natural damage; and humanity’s ever more audacious attempts to control the environment. This ethos, wielded as the prime justification for taking over that which belonged to cultures not espousing it, has resulted in anthropogenic damage disproportionately affecting the most economically and historically vulnerable peoples. However, their alternative modes of coping with the damages—an ineluctable responsiveness to, rather than control over, environment—enables them to survive. Often, the indigenous or traditional knowledge of these cultures sees nature as infused with spirit, i.e. enchanted. As such, they could lead the way through the Anthropocene, modeling adaptation and mitigation strategies, and obviating the global North’s unsound hope for a technological solution. By expanding the data beyond the stratigraphic, coordinated interdisciplinary research can measure variegated effects of––and responses to––the Anthropocene, thus better equipping humanity to adapt to and/or mitigate climate change and to eschew unsustainable practices.
How to cite: Nichols, K. and Gogineni, B.: Nature’s enchantment, lost but not forgotten: A way forward in the Anthropocene, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12481, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12481, 2026.
The effects of decades of human action have led to the crossing of multiple planetary boundaries, yet humanity's structures remain built on extractivist logics that further constitute the loss of biocultural capital.
The anthropogenic changes in Earth’s geo-ecological systems are unprecedented for anything any historical society had to face. While early human ecologies were characterized by local feedbacks and gradual natural change, the globalized world assimilates and synchronizes crises far more rapidly than both human and non-human adaptation measures can keep up with. Synchronizing implies no geographical escapes as formerly regional problems tend to become connected by globalization and telecoupling. Following this asymmetry, the gap between the resilience of socio-ecological systems and the ongoing escalation widens.
In contrast to any other epoch, the Anthropocene is marked by the dominance of a single species and a specific way of living within the diversity of lifestyles. The capacity of local ecosystems, and even of the entirety of planet Earth, is eroded. In geological understanding, humanity leaves traces of the systemic failures of the present.
In the current discussion about the Anthropocene, two core readings of the new era prevail. One claims that now that humans are dominating global processes, they have the right, and the responsibility to take full control and manage the Earth system, with technical means and based on existing patterns. Visions of post-human economic systems, run by new forms of AI solving all problems, belong to this category. The other core narrative is not based on rights but on responsibility, in particular to respect the planetary boundaries of the Earth system to give it time to recover (albeit in a modified way – some changes are irreversible).
We hold that moving “beyond extractivism” is at the core of the second, responsibility-driven Post-Anthropocene horizon and a necessary prerequisite for: a humanistic, not a post-human future, with resilient societies providing the chance for a dignified life to its members. However, the disturbances of global systems the Anthropocene-humanity has set in motion will have lasting effects, which cannot be stopped or reversed (almost impossible in complex evolving systems) on human timescales. Hence, there are no (technical or other) ways out of the crisis humans created – we must find pathways towards a humane Post-Anthropocene under the given and emerging conditions. This will require more than mere adaptation to external (e.g. climate) changes; it calls for a co-evolutionary process of human societies with their (no longer really natural) environment. Resilient societies in a resource-constrained future will need to decouple human flourishing from planetary degradation – a future beyond the Anthropocene patterns of production and consumption, and a modification of the value systems driving the permanent escalation of human impacts. Such a vision offers evidence-based hope for future generations, who necessarily must be part of the solution.
Aiming to link the geological dimension of the Anthropocene to future outlooks based on current and historical human nature, this concept can support the mobilization of communities by giving back agency, informed by state-of-the-art research.
How to cite: Best, M. and Spangenberg, J. H.: Beyond Extractivism: Humanity Entering the Post-Anthropocene, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-15538, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-15538, 2026.
This is a review paper discerning: 1. Three broad and deep transitions (the energy transition, current use of space, and the total greenhouse emissions of the food system), and 2. A call for transformation that is supported by a multi- to inter- to transdisciplinary theory of the Anthropocene. Is the theoretical transformation (2) needed to support the practical transformations (1)? How can disciplines become overarching, supporting to each other and contribute to potential solutions? Anthropocene examples and discussions from social science, humanities and science domains are presented: Is the Anthropocene driven by force majeure? Can humans develop from weak and strong forces towards an emphatic society? The composite model of the Anthropocene is presented with the anthromes/Nature Relationship Index [1), the commons transition [2] and the convivial society [3] as an integrated concept/theory. Through self-domestication and non-violent cooperation the paper stimulates a thoughtful call on theoretical and practical transformations to local to global communities.
1. Ellis EC, Malhi Y, Ritchie H et al (2025) An aspirational approach to planetary futures. Nature 642, 889–899. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09080-
2. Bauwens M, Kostakis V and Pazaitis A (2019) A Commons Transition Strategy. In: Peer to Peer: The Commons Manifesto Vol. 10: pp. 55–70. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvfc53qf.11
3. Second Convivialist Manifesto (2020) Towards a Post-Neoliberal World. Convivialist International. Civic Sociology (2020) 1 (1): 12721. https://doi.org/10.1525/001c.12721
How to cite: van der Linde, L., Lont, J., and Kluiving, S.: Towards a Multi- to Inter- to Transdisciplinary Theory of the Anthropocene - Review of overarching disciplines and research on overstepped planetary boundaries and social and humanitarian crises, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22330, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22330, 2026.
Posters virtual: Mon, 4 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot A
EGU26-20658 | Posters virtual | VPS31
Assessing Agricultural Production within Planetary Boundaries using an Integrated Monitoring and Hybrid Modelling ApproachMon, 04 May, 14:27–14:30 (CEST) vPoster spot A
Planetary Boundaries (PBs) define biophysical limits that safeguard Earth system stability. Exceeding these limits undermines ecosystem services, food security, economic stability, and climate resilience. Humanity is currently transgressing several of the PBs, demanding integrative and transformative research approaches that connect biophysical monitoring, sustainability targets, and societal decision-making. Despite its conceptual strength, the PB framework remains difficult to operationalize for regional agricultural systems. Global-scale assessments obscure the pronounced spatial heterogeneity of farming landscapes, where localized exceedances in nitrogen cycling, freshwater use, climate sensitivity, and biosphere integrity accumulate to drive broader Earth system risks. Consequently, there are limited guidance on where, how, and under which biophysical constraints agriculture can remain productive without breaching local environmental limits. This study proposes an integrated monitoring and modelling paradigm to assess regional agricultural production within planetary boundaries.
Our method moves beyond static, indicator-based assessments toward a dynamic, process-aware evaluation of local biophysical variables. We integrate high-resolution climate, soil, and land-use data with a spatially explicit crop model (SIMPLACE) to define regional control variables, including yield thresholds, nitrate leaching, and water-stress limits. To address structural uncertainties and capture non-linear climate-crop-soil interaction, we develop a hybrid modelling approach that couples SIMPLACE with machine learning algorithm (XGBoost).
Using SSP5-8.5 projections, we quantify specific yield and environmental constraints for Winter Wheat and Silage Maize in the Berlin–Brandenburg region in Germany. Hybrid simulations significantly outperform standalone process-based models, reducing mean absolute percentage error by ~9% for Winter Wheat and yielding consistently higher skill for Silage Maize. Our results reveal that emerging local boundaries are increasingly governed by compound climate extremes, particularly heat stress and precipitation deficits during flowering and early grain filling.
By framing PBs at the regional scale, hybrid modelling approaches enable the identification of conditions under which agricultural productivity, climate adaptation, and environmental integrity remain compatible—and where biophysical limits impose fundamental constraints. This approach offers a transferable pathway for embedding planetary stewardship into regional agricultural planning, climate adaptation strategies, and land-system governance.
How to cite: Halder, K., Srivastava, A. K., Almeida, B., Nowak, L., Awoke, M. D., Stuckas, H., Fritz, S., Helming, K., and Ewert, F.: Assessing Agricultural Production within Planetary Boundaries using an Integrated Monitoring and Hybrid Modelling Approach, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20658, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20658, 2026.
EGU26-9385 | Posters virtual | VPS31
Urban-rural interdependencies from an Earth system’s viewMon, 04 May, 14:30–14:33 (CEST) vPoster spot A
Urban-rural interdependencies from an Earth system’s view
Global demand for resources such as food, building materials and water is rising, while land take —driven significantly by urbanization—is accelerating and has become a critical factor. This surge in demand is accompanied by the spatial decoupling of production and consumption regions, leading to unevenly distributed environmental damage. Consequently, issues like soil degradation, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions are externalized and cause the deterioration of natural conditions in the hinterland or in teleconnected rural areas. Accordingly, sustainability balancing ecological, social and economic aspects can hardly be achieved.
While the Earth system sciences in the Anthropocene also deal with the cumulative effects of human activity on environmental change, research on urban-rural interdependencies in the context of global sustainability remains rare. However, compliance with Earth system boundaries requires integrated approaches across resources, sectors and spatial scales. This necessitates rethinking urban-rural relationships beyond the traditional dichotomy of producers and consumers and instead views them as cooperative socio-ecological systems.
Based on the thematic examples of food, material, water and land use, we highlight regional approaches and derive three fundamental principles—‘circularity’, ‘spatial justice’, and ‘participation’—alongside with two heuristic perspectives: ‘socio-ecological systems thinking’ and ‘framing and governance'. hey are used to propose an advanced research agenda covering (i) an integrated framework for system knowledge on the complex and dynamic urban-rural interdependencies, (ii) scientific references for regional target knowledge informed by Earth boundaries, and (iii) the examination of governance structures as transformation knowledge to enable cross-regional design and implementation.
How to cite: Warner, B. and Müller-Petke, M.: Urban-rural interdependencies from an Earth system’s view, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-9385, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9385, 2026.
EGU26-21166 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS31
Psychosocial effects and intervention challenges during the re-emergence of Crimean–Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in SenegalMon, 04 May, 14:33–14:36 (CEST) vPoster spot A
Climate change contributes to the emergence of multiple hazards, including zoonotic diseases whose transmission dynamics are closely linked to environmental and socio-ecological transformations. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, a re-emergence of CCHF was observed in Senegal, particularly in rural areas where livestock farming plays a central role. This emerging zoonosis, transmitted mainly through ticks and infected cattle, remains poorly understood by the general population and disproportionately affects women involved in agro-pastoral activities. While epidemiological responses currently use a One Health framework, the approach often lacks community inclusion and adequate consideration of mental health. Previous global health emergencies (Ebola and Covid-19) have led to social, psychological, and emotional disruptions, causing fear and reinforcing misconceptions about health measures and denial of disease, particularly in contexts where cultural beliefs and mistrust hinder public health interventions. This study analyses the psychosocial effects associated with the emergence of CCHF in order to identify key challenges for epidemic interventions within a broader context of climate-related health risks. A mixed-methods approach was conducted across eight regions of Senegal, combining surveys, observations, and in-depth interviews (IDIs). Quantitative surveys were administered to 434 livestock keepers at the household level, alongside interviews with 6 farmers to assess knowledge of zoonotic diseases and risk perception. In 2023, field observations focused on surveillance activities, followed in 2024 by IDIs with 10 directly affected individuals, including bereaved families, and 6 health professionals involved in case management. The findings reveal limited knowledge and low risk perception of zoonotic diseases among livestock keepers, who often rely on informal practices for disease management. High levels of psychological distress, including fear, panic, insomnia, and social stigma, were reported among patients, relatives, and communities. Isolation measures and restrictions on visits intensified suffering, eroded trust in response teams, and in some cases triggered hostility toward intervention actors. Health professionals experienced ethical dilemmas between their duty of care and fear of infection, exacerbated by harsh climatic conditions. The study highlights the need for systemic and multidisciplinary risk-reduction strategies that extend beyond biomedical control. This call for Integrating structured psychosocial support, community engagement, and culturally sensitive communication. Strengthening the links between environmental change, disease emergence, mental health, and social behaviour is essential to enhancing resilience and preparedness for future epidemics in climate-vulnerable contexts.
Keywords: emerging zoonotic diseases, CCHF, climate-related health risks, risk perception, psychosocial effects, epidemic intervention, Senegal.
How to cite: Ndoye, F., Sène, M., Ndione, A. G., Sow, A., Tine, J. A., Leneman, M., Boersma, K., Ndour, A. P., and Ngowi, H. A.: Psychosocial effects and intervention challenges during the re-emergence of Crimean–Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Senegal, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21166, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21166, 2026.
EGU26-8747 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS31
Formalizing the Anthropocene: an interplay between normative knowledge-making and societal norm-makingMon, 04 May, 14:36–14:39 (CEST) vPoster spot A
How, and to what extent, can societal norms legitimately enter scientific knowledge-making, or can science intervene in societal norm-making? This question has become a key matter in defining and studying the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch. This paper aims to enrich the discussion by examining how two kinds of norms – one operating primarily within the boundary of science and the other originating from broader societal concerns – came to intersect in the debate over formalizing the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch. The first part of the paper traces the historical development of the GSSP practice as the central normative backbone of modern chronostratigraphy. Drawing on archival documents from the International Subcommission on Stratigraphic Classification (ISSC), in which the concept of GSSP was first debated and negotiated, it shows how the classification of geological time became a GSSP-based institutional practice through specific procedures, standards, and conventions for recognizing particular stratigraphic signals as valid evidence for defining geological time. Against this historical backdrop, the second part points out that, from its inception, the Anthropocene has carried the reflexive mode of thinking about the consequences of human activities, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and habitability, hence calling for planetary stewardship. Since a new geological epoch can only be ratified through the acceptance of a specific GSSP proposal, formalizing the Anthropocene became a site at which the scientific norms constructed in the late 20th century for the development of GSSP are brought into contact with the 21st-century societal norms embedded in the concept of a human-driven Earth-system change. In a nutshell, the very term “Anthropocene” connotes both descriptive and prescriptive practices.
In 2023, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) submitted a GSSP proposal identifying plutonium-239 fallout from the mid-20th-century nuclear testing as a globally synchronous marker, supported by multiple auxiliary stratigraphic proxies. As maintained by Skelton and Noone (2025) and the members of the AWG, this proposal has met the formal GSSP requirements with evidential robustness exceeding those of many previously ratified epochs. Nevertheless, the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) voted to reject the proposal. This paper argues that the difficulties surrounding the formalization of the Anthropocene do not stem from matters of empirical evidence, but from matters of normative science: i.e., how existing scientific norms are to be interpreted, negotiated, and sometimes reconstructed when they encounter the pressure of societal imperatives to address planetary transformations. The paper thus asks how scientists should navigate the deeply humanistic implications of their stratigraphic decision about the Anthropocene.
How to cite: Koh, K. and Park, B. S.: Formalizing the Anthropocene: an interplay between normative knowledge-making and societal norm-making, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8747, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8747, 2026.
EGU26-8729 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS31
Infra-circuits of fossil capital and Technosphere: More-than-human politics of the Samcheok thermal power plantMon, 04 May, 14:39–14:42 (CEST) vPoster spot A
In May 2024, Samcheok Blue Power Unit 1, a coal-fired thermal power plant in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, South Korea, began commercial operation. Together with Unit 1 (completed in October 2023) and Unit 2 (scheduled for completion by the end of 2025), the Samcheok Blue Power complex will reach an installed capacity of 2,100 MW. Considering that fossil fuels are a decisive contributor to climate change and that South Korea has officially pledged to phase out coal by 2050, the continued construction and operation of a new coal plant in 2024 appears paradoxical. This puzzle becomes even more striking given that Samcheok has been widely recognized as a region with a successful anti-nuclear movement, suggesting the presence of an active environmental politics and a history of resistance to energy megaprojects.
To explore this contradiction, this research investigates how fossil fuel infrastructure is sustained through intertwined “circuits” of capital, material, and affect. In doing so, the study engages with debates on the technosphere, understood as a global assemblage of energy systems, infrastructures, institutions, and material interdependencies that shape, and often constrain, social and ecological futures. Rather than treating infrastructure as a self-contained system with clear boundaries, the study proposes the concept of infra-circuits. This concept emphasizes that infrastructures function as nodal points within circuits that are simultaneously connected and closed: they enable specific forms of connection while restricting others, much like electronic circuits that allow flow only through certain configured pathways. Infra-circuits are also chained, meaning that if one link is disrupted, the stability of the entire configuration is threatened unless alternative routes can be mobilized.
Importantly, infra-circuits are not only spatial but also temporal. They operate through inherited material pathways, regulatory arrangements, financial instruments, and labor regimes that bind present energy decisions to past investments and future obligations. While this resonates with socio-technical systems theory and its emphasis on path dependence, the concept of infra-circuits allows for analytical dimensions that remain underdeveloped in conventional approaches to technological adoption and innovation. Specifically, it draws attention to how infrastructures endure by assembling heterogeneous circuits of matter, finance, and affect, thereby revealing the intimate relationship between fossil development and patterned forms of public sentiment, attachment, fear, and aspiration.
By highlighting the chained and temporally extended nature of these circuits, this study argues that fossil infrastructure persists not merely due to economic rationality or policy failure, but because it is embedded in technospheric arrangements that stabilize particular futures while foreclosing others. Ultimately, the concept of infra-circuits offers a framework for rethinking fossil energy infrastructure as a material and affective formation situated at the apex of ecological crises in the Anthropocene.
How to cite: Kim, J.: Infra-circuits of fossil capital and Technosphere: More-than-human politics of the Samcheok thermal power plant, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8729, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8729, 2026.
EGU26-4187 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS31
How to Reimagine Education in the Anthropocene: Patch-based Learning of Feral Beings and EffectsMon, 04 May, 14:42–14:45 (CEST) vPoster spot A
There is a pressing need for developing pedagogical frameworks that respond to the damaged, uneven, and entangled planetary conditions of the Anthropocene. I propose “patch-based learning” as a new pedagogical concept, in order to engage learners with the deep predicaments of the Anthropocene. The case study focuses on Yongsan in central Seoul, South Korea—a site marked by layered histories of militarization, displacement, and environmental degradation. Attending to ferality, terrestrial traceability, and denizenship as guiding vectors for traversing Yongsan, I explore ways of reading the site as Anthropocene patches and consider the pedagogical significance of such a reading. I argue that patch-based learning may offer a way to work with the ruptures, leaks, and feral dynamics that characterize planetary landscapes in the Anthropocene.
How to cite: Ahn, S.: How to Reimagine Education in the Anthropocene: Patch-based Learning of Feral Beings and Effects, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4187, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4187, 2026.
Posters virtual: Wed, 6 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot 4
EGU26-18296 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS32
Environmental Education and the Anthropocene: Convergences, Distances, and Contemporary ChallengesWed, 06 May, 15:15–15:18 (CEST) vPoster spot 4
We live in the Anthropocene (Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000) or, in Stengers’ (2015) terms, in the time of catastrophes, a period marked by the intensification of interdependencies between socio-environmental crises. Scientific literature on the Anthropocene has produced increasingly consistent diagnoses of ongoing biogeophysical transformations, grounded primarily in contributions from the Earth System Sciences (Steffen et al., 2018) and the Geological Sciences (Zalasiewicz et al., 2021), which are extensively systematised in the works of Wallenhorst (2020; 2025). These studies provide a robust framework for understanding planetary boundaries, dynamics of acceleration, and systemic risks associated with transformations driven by the capitalist mode of production. In parallel, the concept of the Anthropocene has been further developed by scholars working at the interface between Earth sciences and the humanities, incorporating economic, historical and political dimensions into the understanding of the contemporary crisis. In this regard, contributions by Veiga (2019; 2023; 2025) and Latour (2017; 2021) shift the debate beyond a strictly biogeophysical perspective, interrogating models of development, forms of social organisation and regimes of knowledge production that sustain socio-environmental collapse, while offering occasional reflections on the role of education. It is within this context that a central question emerges, guiding this proposal: in the face of the gravity of the Anthropocene, is what we lack a deeper knowledge of the urgency of the times in which we live, or do existing bodies of knowledge rather collide with political, economic and institutional interests that hinder their translation into social transformation? The aim of this article is to address this question from the perspective of Environmental Education (EE), exploring its analytical contributions to understanding the relationships between science, power and socio-environmental inequalities. EE is here understood as a field in permanent (re)foundation in response to socio-environmental transformations. As noted by Reigota (2004), EE emerged as a response to environmental issues produced by a predatory and unsustainable capitalist economic model, gaining international visibility from the Stockholm Conference (1972) onwards. However, as indicated by Leite Lopes (2004) and Carvalho (2001), some early approaches adopted a conservationist and normative character, centred on individual responsibility and avoiding a critical interrogation of the social structures that produce environmental degradation. Over recent decades, authors such as Layrargues (2012) and Carvalho (2014) have deepened the critical foundations of EE, highlighting it as a field traversed by epistemological, ethical and political disputes. Methodologically, this proposal is based on a bibliographic review of scientific productions from the Earth sciences, the humanities and Environmental Education, with an emphasis on articulations between the Anthropocene, scientific knowledge, politics and socio-environmental justice. In dialogue with Carvalho and Ortega (2024), we argue that the dimension of catastrophes should not be understood solely as collapse, but also as an opportunity to reinvent ways of doing science, educating and inhabiting the world, reaffirming the centrality of Environmental Education in the construction of socially just responses to the Anthropocene.
How to cite: Pinheiro, S., Lopes, R., and Bordes, M.: Environmental Education and the Anthropocene: Convergences, Distances, and Contemporary Challenges, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18296, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18296, 2026.
