• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Accessibility options
University of Brighton
  • About us
  • Business and
    employers
  • Alumni and
    supporters
  • For
    students
  • For
    staff
  • Accessibility
    options
Open menu
Home
Home
  • Close
  • Study here
    • Get to know us
    • Why choose Brighton?
    • Explore our prospectus
    • Chat to our students
    • Ask us a question
    • Meet us
    • Open days and visits
    • Virtual tours
    • Applicant days
    • Meet us in your country
    • Campuses
    • Our campuses
    • Our city
    • Accommodation options
    • Our halls
    • Helping you find a home
    • What you can study
    • Find a course
    • Full A-Z course list
    • Explore our subjects
    • Our academic departments
    • How to apply
    • Undergraduate application process
    • Postgraduate application process
    • International student application process
    • Apprenticeships
    • Transfer from another university
    • International students
    • Clearing
    • Funding your time at uni
    • Fees and financial support
    • What's included in your fees
    • Brighton Boost – extra financial help
    • Advice and guidance
    • Advice for students
    • Guide for offer holders
    • Advice for parents and carers
    • Advice for schools and colleges
    • Supporting you
    • Your academic experience
    • Your wellbeing
    • Your career and employability
  • Research
    • Research and knowledge exchange
    • Research and knowledge exchange organisation
    • The Global Challenges
    • Centres of Research Excellence (COREs)
    • Research Excellence Groups (REGs)
    • Our research database
    • Information for business
    • Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP)
    • Postgraduate research degrees
    • PhD research disciplines and programmes
    • PhD funding opportunities and studentships
    • How to apply for your PhD
    • Research environment
    • Investing in research careers
    • Strategic plan
    • Research concordat
    • News, events, publications and films
    • Featured research and knowledge exchange projects
    • Research and knowledge exchange news
    • Inaugural lectures
    • Research and knowledge exchange publications and films
    • Academic staff search
  • About us
  • Business and employers
  • Alumni, supporters and giving
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • Accessibility
Search our site
Image of checkland building falmer campus
About us
  • About us
  • Your university
  • Governance and structure
  • Working with us
  • Statistics and legal
  • News and events
  • Contact us
  • News and events
  • News
  • 2019
  • Humanity – a mere speck of dust in the Earth's history

Humanity – a mere speck of dust in the Earth's history

A University of Brighton academic has called for a new way of thinking about human life – and the Anthropocene.

13 March 2019

In an article for The Conversation, Dr Matthew Adams, Principal Lecturer in Psychology, challenged the notion of the Anthropocene period, which refers to the idea that the Earth’s geological record has been transformed by human activity and environmental breakdown.

Dr Adams said the Anthropocene is a “highly problematic way of framing our predicament”.

He added that humanity’s relatively short time on Earth meant our geological legacy would be akin to the comet dust of the mass extinction 66 million years ago that killed off three quarter of all species: “a slightly odd transition layer a quarter of an inch thick.”

As such, Dr Adams said we should be “wary” of the Anthropocene and the idea that humanity has had a major impact on the Earth in the context of the planet’s 4.45 billion year history.

While he admitted there is “plenty of evidence for human impact in the geological record,” he added that a “fuller appreciation of deep time should actually make us wary of the Anthropocene label, maybe even shift our image of ourselves and what it means to inhabit the Earth this time”.

Dr Matthew Adams

Dr Matthew Adams

Introducing the concept of ‘geologic time’, the timescale on which major events in the Earth’s history are charted, Dr Adams said “we struggle to grasp the huge scale of a sense of time is so deep”.

He added: “In the context of deep time, the Earth will continue to meander on without us, and it will hardly notice we’re gone, just as it hardly knew we were here.”

If Earth’s history took place on the scale of a 24 hour clock, humans would only appear in the last 19 seconds.

You can read Dr Matthew Adams’ full article at The Conversation.

Back to top
  • Facebook
  • X logo
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn icon

Contact us

University of Brighton
Mithras House
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4AT

Main switchboard 01273 600900

Course enquiries

Sign up for updates

University contacts

Report a problem with this page

Quick links Quick links

  • Courses
  • Open days
  • Explore our prospectus
  • Academic departments
  • Academic staff
  • Professional services departments
  • Jobs
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Libraries
  • Term dates
  • Maps
  • Graduation
  • Site information
  • Online shop
  • The Student Contract

Information for Information for

  • Current students
  • International students
  • Media/press
  • Careers advisers/teachers
  • Parents/carers
  • Business/employers
  • Alumni/supporters
  • Suppliers
  • Local residents