Algae and oxygen, humans and carbon: A Precambrian analogue for the Anthropocene
James Taylor CarsonFirst Published May 29, 2019 Research Article
https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019619852165
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Article Information
Volume: 6 issue: 1-2, page(s): 162-166
Article first published online: May 29, 2019; Issue published: April 1, 2019
James Taylor Carson
Griffith University School of Humanities Languages and Social Science, Australia

Corresponding Author:

James Taylor Carson, Griffith University School of Humanities Languages and Social Science, Macrossan, Nathan, Queensland, Australia. Email: j.carson@griffith.edu.au
Abstract
In 2003 Paul Crutzen and Will Steffen asserted that across Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history no analogue could be found for the Anthropocene. An analogue can, however, be located in the dim Precambrian past when, through oxygenic photosynthesis, cyanobacteria produced enough oxygen to alter the composition and character of the Earth System. The ‘Great Oxygenation Event’ that followed wiped out much of Earth’s anaerobic life while giving rise to all subsequent aerobic life. It also offers a clear comparison with the Anthropocene that implicates how we think about our current predicament.