A) Demarcation of the Anthropocene Epoch is an important intellectual development rapidly sweeping through a wide variety of scientific fields and branches of the policy sciences and humanities, including Management. What does the term Anthropocene mean? What does it signal about the balance between humanity and the rest of nature? The Anthropocene has often been referred to as the "Age of Acceleration." Why? What is accelerating? Are the mathematical functions for change (with the passage of time graphed on the X-axis) best described as linear or exponential? Explain. Give examples of two important accelerations and briefly explain their importance (6 Points). (B) During the first part of the course, we referred repeatedly to influential research conducted by Johan Rockstrom, Will Steffen, Diana Liverman and colleagues on changes in the earth's systems. In this research, they present a conceptual framework useful for thinking about and tracking human impacts on major planetary systems and they develop the concept of a planetary boundary. Using their framework, precisely define the concept of a planetary boundary and give one example. According to these experts, how many planetary boundaries must we consider to outline a safe operating space for humanity? Which planetary boundaries have definitely been breached by humanity, resulting in high risk? Based on their framework, how would you assess the risk associated with atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations? In addressing the question about risks facing humanity associated with atmospheric CO2, define and make use of the concept of a tipping point. Relatedly, define 'Hothouse Earth (HHE). Is HHE inevitable? Why or why not? (7 Points)