In a seismic moment at the turn of the millennium, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen coined the term “Anthropocene” to characterize a new geological era shaped by human activity. Fast forward to 2023, and the Anthropocene is no longer a theoretical concept but a pressing reality as world leaders grapple with the planetary consequences of industrialization. Crutzen’s initial proposal in 2000 outlined planetary symptoms such as deforestation, rampant dam construction, overfishing, and disruption of the nitrogen cycle. Climate change was acknowledged but seen as a distant problem. But the trajectory has taken a dramatic turn, with nine consecutive years of record temperatures by 2022 and 38 instances of global temperatures exceeding the UN’s safe warming limit of 1.5°C by September 2023. (Sneha Swaminathan)