The Antibiocene – towards an eco-social analysis of humanity’s antimicrobial footprint

Over eight decades of mass antimicrobial exposures have changed microbial populations and genes at a global level. This thought piece argues that adequately responding to the anthropogenic transformation of the microbial commons requires reframing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as the pheno- and genotypic signal of a new geological era – an Antibiocene. Thinking through the multiple spatiotemporal, biological, and social scales of this Antibiocene opens important perspectives on the long-term goals of (anti)microbial stewardship, the injustices connected with unequal antimicrobial exposures, and the scale of necessary changes to health, food production, and waste disposal systems.