Geography and the Anthropocene: Critical approaches needed

“The Anthropocene” currently serves as a framework to acknowledge global human influences on the earth systems. Different prominent authors call for geographers and especially physical geographers to intensify their involvement in the discussions on the theme. A bibliometric analysis shows that geographers are already one of the leading contributors to the keyword Anthropocene in journal articles. While we generally support the standpoint of increased engagement with the topic, we want to emphasize that we need to do more than only attaching the “Anthropocene” label to our daily research practice. A critical engagement with and reflection of the research questions and contexts is needed to play a vital role as discussant in the debate. We should take advantage of the diverse themes, topics and viewpoints of our subject by actively following a more critical approach to our research practices in order to find those geographic ties that join us and our discipline and that enable us to contribute more substantially to the Anthropocene debate