Speakers V. Ramanathan, Nancy Knowlton and Jonah Western discuss humanity's past, present and future of the Anthropocene. Veerabhadran Ramanathan has had the privilege and pleasure of collaborating with Paul Crutzen for more than 40 years. Crutzen is one of the most creative, innovative and original geo-scientists of his generation. Nancy Knowlton speaks on how the ocean is enormous, indeed so large that for centuries we assumed there was nothing we could do to substantially harm it. Unfortunately, we now know that this is not true. David (Jonah) Western emphasizes how conservation is common to all societies which learned to live within ecosystem limits. If we use our unique capacity for cooperation and planning, there is hope for combating global warming and sustaining the diversity of life globally. (#37935)