We may well be. And, yes, I do mean man for now, since major decision-making is still largely a male domain.

The Anthropocene is the name of a potentially new geological epoch that we have been tipped into due to the huge upscaling of the human footprint on earth.

The term, introduced casually by Nobel Prize laureate Paul Crutzen a decade ago, has now found its way into scientific debate. It is not just us versus nature any more people now decide what nature should be.

The age of man crystalizes the idea of a time period when humanity itself has become a driver of the earth’s systems, even a geological force in its own right.

So have we entered the Anthropocene, and is it in fact a new epoch? A “yes” answer to the first question is easier, while the second is being debated.

Humans are modifying and controlling nature’s processes to serve their ends in unprecedented ways.