With many gigabytes of collected data, a wide variety of impressions and experiences captured in photographs and audio recordings, and above all the realisation of what science can and must achieve today the Expedition Anthropocene of Die Junge Akademie traveled back to Germany in March 2020. The scientists Miriam Akkermann, Martin-Immanuel Bittner, Christian Hof, Robert Kretschmer, Dirk Pflüger and Ricarda Winkelmann had spent seventeen days as an interdisciplinary research team investigating the effects of the Anthropocene age at various altitudes in Ecuador. The expedition focused on the following questions: How is human-induced climate change altering the living and non-living worlds? And how can humans fulfil their responsibility as a signifcant influencing factor capable of demarcating an entire geological age?

These questions took the team all the way from cities to glaciers in the thin air of the high mountains and to the species-rich cloud forests of Ecuador. It was an intensive trip, and some days were marked by exertion and rainy weather. The unusual constellation of disciplines – from musicology to computer science – and methods – from ice core drilling to sound recording – require cooperation, flexibility and adaptation to the overall goal. Only in this way could the expedition do justice to the complexity of the topic – and it is fair to assume that the challenges of global climate change can likewise only be overcome by means of an interdisciplinary approach.

The Anthropocene affects all people, worldwide. In this documentary volume, the scientists make their research in Ecuador and the insights gained from it accessible to a broad audience. The structure of the volume chronologically follows the climatic zones and settlement areas explored on the expedition. Texts, pictures and other media invite you to be part of the journey: to experience scientifc practice, to discover impressive landscapes, animals and plants – and to encounter the Anthropocene where its effects are already clearly noticeable.

You can download a digital version here.