In 2019, Jan Zalasiewicz, building on the work of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), modified the group's logo based on a calculated pattern developed by AWG scientist Clément Poirier. The pattern features an almost-horizontal line that abruptly transitions into a near-vertical rise on its right-hand end, indicating the unprecedented increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere from the earth/ocean system over the past 15,000 years. This accelerating curve divides the old geological epoch and the (proposed) new one where the Holocene is represented by the horizontal line, and the Anthropocene is marked by the steep vertical rise, anchored by the period of the Great Acceleration.
The Great Acceleration, often argued as the point marking the beginning of the proposed new epoch, refers to the mid-20th-century surge in anthropogenic impacts on the Earth, highlighting the complex, multi-causal processes that have radically altered the Earth System. Since the mid-1900s, human activities have become the dominant force intervening in crucial biogeochemical cycles—such as the carbon, sulphur, and nitrogen cycles—resulting in significant transformations of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and other inherent spheres to the Earth.
We are currently living in the midst of the Great Acceleration, an anomalous and unprecedented period in the 200,000-year-long history of human-planetary relations. This should prompt scepticism toward the assumption that any current trends will persist indefinitely. With potential shifts like energy transformations and a slowdown in population growth, the Great Acceleration may come to an end—but this will not conclude the Anthropocene. Instead, it will usher in a new phase, reminding us that we now inhabit a world unlike any before: a no-analogue world, shaped by irreversible human impact.