The hole in the ozone layer is a huge warning sign that society is in danger of ignoring, argues Bruce C. Gibb, who reflects on the legacy of Paul Crutzen and the Anthropocene.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Chem. Eng. News https://cen.acs.org/magazine/99/09905.html (2021).
Hampson, J. Nature 250, 189–191 (1974).
Crutzen, P. J. & Birks, J. W. Ambio 11, 114–125 (1982).
Crutzen, P. J. & Stoermer, E. F. The “Anthropocene”. IGBP Newsletter https://inters.org/files/crutzenstoermer2000.pdf (2000).
Suzman, J. Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time (Bloomsbury Circus, 2020).
Carrington, D. The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age. The Guardian https://go.nature.com/3t4d8Xn (2016).
Scott, A. The pervasiveness of microplastics. Chem. Eng. News https://cen.acs.org/environment/pollution/pervasiveness-microplastics/97/i5 (2019).
Karami, A. et al. Sci. Rep. 7, 46173 (2017).
IPCC Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report (eds Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R. K. & Meyer L. A.) 151 (IPCC, 2014).
Küster, A. & Adler, N. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 369, 20130587 (2014).
Brausch, J. M., Connors, K. A., Brooks, B. W. & Rand, G. M. in Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 218 (ed. Whitacre, D. M.) 1–99 (Springer, 2012).
WHO Guidelines on Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-Producing Animals (World Health Organization, 2017).
Van Boeckel, T. P. et al. Science 365, eaaw1944 (2019).
He, Y. et al. npj Clean Water 3, 4 (2020).
Tilman, D., Cassman, K. G., Matson, P. A., Naylor, R. & Polasky, S. Nature 418, 671–677 (2002).
Hamilton, H. A. et al. Nat. Sustain. 1, 314–321 (2018).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gibb, B.C. The road to hell is irreversible. Nat. Chem. 13, 390–391 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00699-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00699-x