How Living In The Anthropocene Impacts Our Longevity

We’re now said to live in the Anthropocene, a human-made geological epoch created by human activities that have a dramatic impact on the Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and geological processes. Pollution, including plastic pollution, along with climate change and biodiversity loss, are known as the environmental Triple Planetary Crisis.

With healthy morning routines trending on social media right now, we’re trying to keep up. We go for an invigorating morning walk in our leafy suburb to get some early sunlight and fresh air, while sipping on water from a trendy flask. Afterward, we make sure to balance our required nutrients with whatever the healthy meal is at the time.

However, through this seemingly healthy routine, we add to concerns around climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

Welcome to the Anthropocene

To ensure that the planet and future generations can thrive, we, as humanity, should remain within nine planetary boundaries: climate change, novel entities (such as microplastics and other synthetic chemicals or substances), stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, ocean acidification, modifications of biogeochemical flows, freshwater change, land systems change, and biosphere integrity. These are all aspects measuring our impact as humans on the planet.

Climate change

Climate change is the long-term shift in temperatures and weather patterns. It increases the Earth’s average temperature, which leads to a rise in sea level and the disruption of ecosystems. This happens because of various atmospheric gases that trap heat, causing what is known as the greenhouse effect.

Although carbon dioxide, from the use of fossil fuels, is the most well-known culprit, other gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, also play a role. Transportation, energy generation, agriculture (especially animal agriculture), manufacturing, and industrial development all contribute to climate change.

One of the more recent concerns is the development of artificial intelligence, which depends on a substantial amount of energy, water, critical minerals, and rare elements.

Biodiversity loss

Human activities also lead to a loss of biodiversity, evident through habitat loss, over-exploitation of resources, and invasive species.

Agriculture, to meet our human need for animal products, feed for animals, and luxury food and drink, is a big driver of biodiversity loss. “Green deserts” caused by lawns and suburban single-dwelling living also absorb large swaths of land.

Pollution

Pollution is when the environment is contaminated in some way, which leads to harm. Air and soil pollution are caused by products or byproducts from manufacturing, agriculture, and everyday life.

Water pollution occurs when chemicals enter our water systems, including medications and even supplements that come in via the sewage purification system.

Noise and light pollution are also increasingly seen as serious environmental risks to the ecosystem and human health.

One pollutant that is found in the air, water, and soil is plastic

Plastic bags, water bottles, straws, takeout containers, and food packaging are front and centre of recent concerns and bans. But apart from the visible plastics, we also find plastic in many everyday products, such as most cosmetics, fishing nets, toothpaste, wrinkle-free clothes, bedding, tires, paper cups, cans, glass bottles, cardboard packaging, foil wrappers, diapers, non-stick pans, toothbrushes, tea bags, chewing gum, stationery, and store receipts. The plastic breaks down into what was first thought of as microplastics – plastic particles as small as a grain of rice, or of around 0.5 mm in diameter. However, recently we’ve come to know that it breaks down into even smaller pieces, called nanoplastics.

Microplastics

We’re exposed to microplastics all the time, and they enter our bodies through inhalation, food and water, and possibly even dermal exposure. Estimates suggest that we ingest around 0.1g to 5g of plastic per week, and that we could inhale up to 22 million micro and nanoplastics annually. Microplastics have been found in the kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, intestines, testes, and brain. They’ve been found to cross both the blood-brain barrier and the placental barrier.

There are possible links between microplastics in the body and an increase in, or onset of, inflammatory bowel disease, respiratory complications, cardiovascular disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and mental-health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Chemicals found in many microplastics are endocrine disruptors, which can lead to infertility, developmental disorders, and an additional risk of developing certain cancers.

Our successes

All is not lost, as there have been many environmental achievements over the years. In the 1980s, the CFC ban brought about an improvement in the ozone layer, and lead has been replaced in houses, pipes, and other products. Various countries have banned plastic bags and related products, which has transformed the health of their communities.

A move to re-wilding and reforestation has transformed damaged land and brought back the vibrant ecosystems it once housed.

Companies are embracing innovation in new materials and circular design to keep their products and byproducts from polluting the environment. A substantial move has been made towards renewable energy and energy conservation.

Create a new routine

As with other changes we make when new information comes to light, we have to adapt our lives to cultivate an environmentally conscious routine. We need to take stock of the products we use, and develop an understanding of how they affect the environment we’ll have to live in a week, a year, and a decade from now.

We need to be cognizant of when and why we turn to single-use products. Then, bit by bit and habit by habit, we start to exchange them for more sustainable options.

The bottom line

Many of the zero-waste, plastic-free, and plant-based alternatives, which are better for us and the environment, are locally sourced and natural, and are produced by community-led small businesses. We don’t have to fall into another social media-driven, influencer-powered consumerism trap to make some flashy change that’s complex to sustain. We also need to be mindful of the replacements we make, as solar panels, organic cotton tote bags, and batteries used in renewable energy have other pollutants too, and consume energy and water.

As a product reaches the end of its life, we should recycle or donate it.

We need to spread these new habits and routines to our families and communities. This accumulation of will and change will reverberate throughout the planet, changing systems and improving our global wellbeing for generations to come.

About the author

Dr. Lize Barclay is a senior lecturer in Futures Studies and Systems Thinking at Stellenbosch Business School, Stellenbosch University.

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