The anthrosphere or anthroposphere (sometimes also called the technosphere) refers to the part of the environment that is made or modified by humans and is used for human activity. It is one of the earth's spheres. Other major spheres include the atmosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. While these other spheres may have important interactions and exchanges with each other, and are certainly not independent of each other, it is relatively straightforward to characterise and differentiate between these spheres. The anthrosphere, however, is more complex.
The anthrosphere plays an increasingly prominent role in influencing changes within each of the other spheres. That is to say that human activities are impacting ice sheets, sea level, sea acidity, land cover change, biodiversity and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. While by no means an exhaustive list, this should be enough to illustrate that the anthrosphere has a powerful and far reaching impact on planet Earth.
The anthrosphere is not as old as the other spheres mentioned, and unlike the other spheres it has grown in importance over a relatively short space of time. Although a period of glaciation would have a drastic impact on the earth and would demonstrate the strength of the cryosphere, the cyclical changes between glaciation and inter-glaciation happen over very long time-scales and do not match the exponential and relentless growth of the anthropogenic influence.
The human hand print on earth can be traced back to the development of agriculture, the onset of industrialisation and the continued growth of the human population and its associated activities. The anthrosphere has become a dominant force at the expense of the other spheres and it begs the question of how the other components of the earth system can fit into this anthropocentric world; how does the whole world fit into the anthrosphere?
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