Taken together, the four issue domains that we have reviewed in this article – from the nitrogen cycle to ocean acidification, urbanization, and wildfires – at first appear vastly different. Yet there are also significant similarities. Importantly, all four issue domains exhibit key manifestations of the changed role of humankind in the planetary system, as it is captured in the notion of the Anthropocene. Each of the four domains displays different dimensions of the Anthropocene. Some are associated with the key drivers of global change, such as urbanization. Others relate more to intermediate processes, such as the nitrogen cycle, or on the overall effects of global change, such as ocean acidification. Nonetheless, all four issues are inevitably entangled in the complexities of the Anthropocene.