  It is proposed, based on the Landau-Ginzburg Theory of phase transitions,
that the transition of the Earth System from the stable conditions of the
Holocene to the human driven condition of the Anthropocene is, actually, a
phase transition, a qualitative change away from its Holocene equilibrium
state. Based on this physical framework, one obtains the Anthropocene equation,
the so-called Great Acceleration and shows that (i) the Earth System
temperature on the new equilibrium state diverges from the average temperature
of the Holocene as the cubic root of the human intervention, described by a
parameter, $H$; (ii) the human induced departure from the Holocene can be as
drastic as the ones due to natural, astronomical and geophysical causes; (iii)
the susceptibility of the Earth System to human effects is much more relevant
near the phase transition. The procedure to obtain numerical predictions from
data is also exemplified through one of the existing proposals to account for
human impact on the Earth's Holocene equilibrium.
