In March 2024, the proposal to formalize the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch was rejected (IUGS 2024). This decision constitutes a turning point in debates on the Anthropocene that have been ongoing for more than two decades.
Initially proposed by Paul J. Crutzen in 2000, the Anthropocene was conceived as a new geological epoch dominated by human activities, marking the end of the Holocene (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000; Crutzen 2002). Since then, it has generated numerous debates across the natural and social sciences and beyond (Benner et al. 2021; Bohle et al. 2025), including opportunities to reconsider relations between humans and nature inherited from modernity (Latour 2017).
The Holocene therefore remains the geological epoch in which we officially live (IUGS 2024). Yet the transformations that gave rise to the Anthropocene debate have not disappeared. Anthropogenic global change continues, including climate change and transformations associated with the Great Acceleration (Steffen et al. 2015; Head et al. 2022). We thus continue to live geologically in the Holocene while researchers across Earth system sciences, social sciences, and the humanities investigate the Anthropocene (Thomas, Williams, and Zalasiewicz 2020; Rockström et al. 2026). Recent debates following the 2024 decision further demonstrate that the scientific discussion remains open (Waters et al. 2026; Zhou and Bertini 2026; Zalasiewicz et al. 2026; Merritts and Walter 2026).
This situation invites us to ask: What should we now do with the Anthropocene? What is the relevance of the Holocene in a time of anthropogenic global change? What kinds of interdisciplinary research can emerge from these debates?
Rather than reopening the institutional vote itself, this session provides an open space to examine geological evidence and arguments surrounding the proposed Anthropocene–Holocene boundary, their implications within and beyond geology, and new interdisciplinary horizons for the social sciences, education, philosophy, the humanities, and geoethics (Wallenhorst and Wulf 2023; Renn 2021; Bohle et al. 2025; Colombo 2026).