Anthropause
The term "anthropause" refers to a global reduction in modern human activity, especially travel, and was coined by a team of researchers in June 2020 in an article discussing the possible impact of COVID-19 lockdown on wildlife.[1] The scientific journal that published the commentary, Nature Ecology and Evolution, selected the topic for the cover of its September issue, with the headline “Welcome to the anthropause”.[2] Oxford Languages highlighted the word "anthropause" in its 2020 Words of an Unprecedented Year report.[3]
The word is a blended lexical item with phonological overlap, combining the prefix anthropo-, from anthropos (Ancient Greek: ἄνθρωπος) meaning “human”, and the English word “pause”; its literal translation is “human pause”. The researchers[who?] explained in their article that they noticed that people had started referring to the lockdown period as the Great Pause, but felt that a more precise term would be helpful. The word anthropause intentionally links to the proposed geological epoch Anthropocene.[citation needed] It is not capitalised as it is conceivable that the anthropause caused by COVID-19 will not remain the only such event.[citation needed]
Anthropause is a neologism that is fast entering common language usage, and has been adopted by social-media users, scientists,[4][5] journalists,[6][7] artists,[8] and photographers,[9] amongst others. William Gibson, the speculative fiction writer who famously coined the term “cyberspace” in his short story “Burning Chrome” in 1982, posted a tweet on 23 June 2020 simply entitled “The Anthropause”, linking to the article that introduced the term.[10]
Several global research projects are underway to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 anthropause.[11] For example, a recent study documented a global reduction of high-frequency seismic noise.[12] Another study, the COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative, uses animal tracking data collected before, during, and after lockdown, to assess how changes in human activity levels affected the movements and behaviour of a wide range of marine, terrestrial, and avian species.[7][13]
References[edit]
- ^ Rutz C, Loretto MC, Bates AE, Davidson SC, Duarte CM, Jetz W, et al. (September 2020). "COVID-19 lockdown allows researchers to quantify the effects of human activity on wildlife". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (9): 1156–1159. doi:10.1038/s41559-020-1237-z. PMID 32572222. S2CID 219976980.
- ^ "Welcome to the anthropause". Nature. 4 (9). September 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
- ^ "Oxford Word of the Year 2020 | Oxford Languages". languages.oup.com. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
- ^ Manenti R, Mori E, Di Canio V, Mercurio S, Picone M, Caffi M, et al. (September 2020). "The good, the bad and the ugly of COVID-19 lockdown effects on wildlife conservation: Insights from the first European locked down country". Biological Conservation. 249: 108728. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108728. PMC 7441970. PMID 32863391.
- ^ Forti LR, Japyassú HF, Bosch J, Szabo JK (August 2020). "Ecological inheritance for a post COVID-19 world". Biodiversity and Conservation. 29 (11–12): 3491–3494. doi:10.1007/s10531-020-02036-z. PMC 7424962. PMID 32836921.
- ^ Gill V (2020-06-23). "Scientists examine the great 'human pause'". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
- ^ a b Stokstad E (2020-08-13). "The pandemic stilled human activity. What did this 'anthropause' mean for wildlife?". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
- ^ "Anthropause Painting". Saatchi Art. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
- ^ Gaspirtz O. Anthropause 2020: Lockdown in Los Angeles.
- ^ Gibson, William. "The Anthropause". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
- ^ Simon, Matt. "The Anthropause: How the Pandemic Gives Scientists a New Way to Study Wildlife". wired.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
- ^ Lecocq T, Hicks SP, Van Noten K, van Wijk K, Koelemeijer P, De Plaen RS, et al. (July 2020). "Global quieting of high-frequency seismic noise due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures". Science. 369 (6509): 1338–1343. Bibcode:2020Sci...369.1338L. doi:10.1126/science.abd2438. PMID 32703907.
- ^ "SOCIETY". www.bio-logging.net. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
