Erle Ellis, GES, in the New York Times “Room for Debate”

Erle Ellis, associate professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, has received wide attention from the media since his May 11 presentation at a British Geological Society conference on the Anthropocene. His comment, “Neither Good Nor Bad,” was published May 19 in a New York Times “Room for Debate” online discussion about the significance of living in this new geological epoch.

“From a scientist’s perspective, the emergence of humanity as a global force of nature is neither good nor bad,” he writes. “It’s just a fact supported by overwhelming evidence.”

In the past week, Ellis has also been mentioned repeatedly in the New York Times “Dot Earth” blog, quoted in an AFP wire story and discussed in a Discovery News article. His work was referenced in the Nature News article “Human Influence Comes of Age,” and the article uses a graphic Ellis developed to show the extent of human impacts on ecosystems.