Life, the Universe and Everything

One of the more interesting panels at the 2012 Aspen Environment Forum was a discussion of whether “nature” was even still a viable concept. It’s broadly accepted that humankind has had such a profound impact on the Earth that there remains no part of the planet yet untouched, no part of our ecosystems that hasn’t been altered by human activity. Even Antarctic lakes kilometers under glacial ice are subject to human fiddling. The question is, is this a permanent change? Can we do anything to reverse the Anthropocene?