Geography and the Anthropocene
Human-Environment-Climate Interaction in the Eastern Mediterranean as a “Hot Spot” of The Anthropocene and Evaluation from Today’s Perspective
Barbaros GönençgilThe transition of mankind from hunter-gatherer to settled agriculture can be seen as a milestone in terms of the systematic use of the Earth. Moreover, by discovering agriculture, humankind also took the first step toward settled life. The factors shaping the development of agriculture and revealing different development levels in the world has geographical features. The industrialization process, which started with the Industrial Revolution, was not only the beginning of a period in which natural resources began to be consumed rapidly and the resulting wastes caused environmental problems but also the beginning of a period in which there was a rapid increase in the world population. While it takes thousands or even millions of years to experience the cycle of processes with natural changes in climate characteristics and their effect on topography, different processes have begun to act more effectively and more quickly with anthropogenic factors. Although the history of the negative pressures created by humans on the climate does not go far back, the point reached is very important. In addition to natural processes, the effects of climate changes increased by human influence have also become a subject of interest in Anthropocene studies.