"Gripping film...a balanced portrayal of the issues at stake. It is entertaining, clear, and chilling." Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute

A Working Group of international scientists is deciding whether to declare a new geological epoch - the Anthropocene - a planet shaped more by mankind than nature. Its members tell the story of the Anthropocene and argue whether it's a tragedy, a comedy, or something more surreal. With archival footage, award-winning stills and interviews, ANTHROPOCENE proposes a common secular narrative for mankind but leaves viewers to decide how we should write the ending. The film has the blessing of Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, who coined the term, and is the first feature film about the Anthropocene. It is now our turn to decide--in this decade--how the Anthropocene will end.

Interviewees include Will Steffen, Erle Ellis, Jan Zalasiewicz, Andrew Revkin, John McNeil, Monica Berger Gonzalez, Eric Odada, Davor Vidas.



Grade Level: 10 - 12, College, Adults
US Release Date: 2016     Copyright Date: 2015
DVD ISBN: 1-941545-55-6

Reviews "This is an excellent film with beautiful pictures and authentic interviews. Thanks to the film makers for a tremendous job and compelling introduction to the Anthropocene." Paul J. Crutzen, Atmospheric chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry "With the help of fossil fuels, we humans have changed the world as profoundly as a great force of nature--but our actions are mostly leaving a wake of destruction...This gripping film is a balanced portrayal of the issues at stake. It is entertaining, clear, and chilling." Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, Author, Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels "The wisdom, wit, and charm captured from members of Anthropocene Working Group are a perfect match to the stunning photography and video clips...Students will find much useful information on how human endeavors have combined with rising population and energy consumption to see humans become one of the great geological forces in the modern era. I highly recommend this film, both to university students and professionals who are working to understand global environmental change, and to the general public who desire a scientific perspective of the human footprint on our planet." J.P.M. Syvitski, Executive Director, Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System, Professor of Geological Science, University of Colorado "One problem in grasping the full impact of the Anthropocene lies in understanding what has transpired before. This film is useful in helping students deal with the problem of shifting baselines and helping them to not only understand how we got here, but more importantly, where we may be headed." Mark Farmer, Professor and Director of the Division of Biological Sciences, University of Georgia "Is it meaningful to say that we are in Anthropocene? This film interviews members of the working group charged with answering this question, organizing their thoughts on key issues into ten short chapters, all interspersed with Anthropocene-related images and clips. Sure to generate discussion." Hugh Gorman, Professor of Environmental History and Policy, Chair of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Author, The Story of N: A Social History of the Nitrogen Cycle and the Challenge of Sustainability "Anthropocene does full justice to its topic, which is intensely interdisciplinary and morally complex. The experts it presents reflect a range of approaches and attitudes toward the idea that human activity has moved the Earth out of the Holocene into a new and unprecedented period in its history. The diversity of their views on the key questions the Anthropocene confronts us with, and their expression of both the thrill and the terror it inspires, allows viewers to draw their own conclusions on how to think and feel about the human-made future." Dr. Zev Trachtenberg, Department of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma "Anthropocene seeks to answer questions in a moving and thought provoking way through narrative of the issues and in-depth interviews with leading experts. This format provides scholars and students with an excellent platform for discussions regarding the nature of human impacts on the Earth's ecosystems." Dr. Victor D. Thompson, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Director of Center for Archaeological Sciences, University of Georgia "In