Thanks to the University of Minnesota for sponsoring this video! http://twin-cities.umn.edu/ We’re in the middle of a rapid, unprecedented, and world-changing increase in the intensity and scale of human activity on this planet. Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members. ___________________________________________ To learn more, start your googling with these keywords:  The Great Acceleration - the dramatic increase in human activity, largely since 1950, that is evident across a variety of socio-economic and biophysical measures, and that has made humans into a planetary scale forceThe Anthropocene -  our current geological epoch (contested), beginning when humans first had significant impact on Earth's geology and ecosystemsHockey stick graph - typically refers to the Mann et al 1999 graph of Earth’s temperature, but can also refer to any trend that's roughly constant for a long duration and then has a drastic upwards shift ___________________________________________ If you liked this week’s video, you might also like:  Welcome to the Anthropocene film - https://vimeo.com/39048998Animated map of last 200,000 years of human population - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OEThe history of emissions and the Great Acceleration - https://skepticalscience.com/EmmissionsAcceleration.html The Hockey Stick Controversy - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/the-hockey-stick-the-most-controversial-chart-in-science-explained/275753/ An argument for 'why growth can’t be green’ - https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/12/why-growth-cant-be-green/# Can we stabilize Earth, or are we going to cross planetary thresholds? - www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1810141115  An attainable global vision for conservation and human well-being - https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/TNC_AnAttainableGlobalVision_Frontiers.pdf _________________________________________ Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: Support us on Patreon: And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/ Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC And download our videos on itunes:  https://goo.gl/sfwS6n ___________________________________________ Credits (and Twitter handles): Credits (and Twitter handles): Script Writer, Editor and Video Narrator: Alex Reich (@alexhreich) Video Director and Illustrator: Henry Reich (@MinutePhysics) With Contributions From: Kate Yoshida, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg, Julián Gómez, Sarah Berman, Arcadi Garcia Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder   Image Credits: Hockey stick graph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:T_comp_61-90.pdf by Klaus Bittermann. Used with permission.Copper graph based on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_copper#/media/File:Copper_-_world_production_trend.svg Life expectancy graph: https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy CO2 graph: https://rateofchange.substack.com/p/the-rate-of-change-july-15-2019 Girl receiving oral polio vaccine: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdcglobal/8190819087 No changes were made.   ___________________________________________   References:   Barnosky, A. D., et al. 2014. Introducing the scientific consensus on maintaining humanity’s life support systems in the 21st century: Information for policy makers. The Anthropocene Review, 1(1), 78-109. http://bit.ly/34rguHzIGPB. 2015. Great Acceleration. http://www.igbp.net/globalchange/greatacceleration.4.1b8ae20512db692f2a680001630.html Accessed Aug 2019.Hellmann, J. Aug 2019. Personal communication. Mann, M. E., et al. 1999. Northern hemisphere temperatures during the past millennium: Inferences, uncertainties, and limitations. Geophysical Research Letters, 26(6), 759-762. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/1999GL900070. McNeill, J.R. Oct 2019. Personal communication. McNeill, J. R. 2001. Something new under the sun: An environmental history of the twentieth-century world (the global century series). WW Norton & Company.Roser, M. 2019. Life Expectancy. Our World In Data. https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy Accessed Sept 2019.Phillipon, D. Aug 2019. Personal communication. Polasky, S. Sept 2019. Personal communication.Steffen, W. et al. 2015. The trajectory of the Anthropocene: the great acceleration. The Anthropocene Review, 2(1), 81-98. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2053019614564785Thompson et al. 2009. Our plastic age. 364. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0054