
On Monday, Harvard University Press publishes The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945, by University Professor John McNeill and Dr. Peter Engelke (PhD, 2011), a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Out in paperback, The Great Acceleration examines humanity's booming nonrenewable energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the current age of population growth, increased standards of living, and significant ecological disruption.
"Peter and I aim to clarify the concept of the Anthropocene for historians and at the same time deepen the acquaintance of natural scientists already grappling with the Anthropocene with the human history that created the Anthropocene," McNeill said this week. "We also hope to convince historians of the logic of the term 'The Great Acceleration' as a way to understand modern history. It is a term that has some traction in global environmental change circles, but not yet among historians."
"Peter and I aim to clarify the concept of the Anthropocene for historians and at the same time deepen the acquaintance of natural scientists already grappling with the Anthropocene with the human history that created the Anthropocene," McNeill said this week. "We also hope to convince historians of the logic of the term 'The Great Acceleration' as a way to understand modern history. It is a term that has some traction in global environmental change circles, but not yet among historians."