Humans really are unparalleled compare to other species . Although we divvy up many characteristics withother fauna , we are able-bodied to send deputation into interstellar place , findnew worlds , indite and speak in hundreds of languages , mend ourselves with applied science , and completelyreorganize the environmentaround us , for good and bad .
As a result of this , scientist cerebrate that we belong to in our own geologic historic period , and it reckon like they have finally jibe when the so - called “ Anthropocene ” get – 1950 , marked by the sudden ear in plutonium debris left behind by nuclear weapons testing at the first of the Cold War .
TheAnthropocene Working Group(AWG ) , an organization comprised of scientists and academics from all over the world , recently vote on five separate move relating to the presently provisionary geologic time geological period , with 34 out of 35 fellow member concluding that there is enough evidence to end the Anthropocene is perceptible at high-pitched resolving power in the geologic phonograph record .
“ Human impact has left discernable tincture on the stratigraphic record for thousands of years , ” the AWG pronounce in a statement . “ However , real and approximately globally synchronous changes to the Earth System most clear intensified in the Great Acceleration of the mid-20th hundred .
“ The mid-20th century also coincide with the clear and most distinctive regalia of signals imprinted upon recently deposited strata . Hence , the mid-20th century represents the optimum beginning of a possible Anthropocene Epoch . ”
in the end , 30 members of the AWG decided the Anthropocene should be formalized , with just three against the motion and two abstaining .
The greenhouse gas stiletto heel that ’s stimulate such detrimental climate change was also considered as a potential principal sign . Piyaset / Shutterstock
It has also been determine that the time period will be an “ Epoch ” , which mean that it is a long than an Age , but not as long as a menstruum . For example , the Maastrichtian Age is the very last segment of the Late Cretaceous , the terminal chapter in the account of the non - avian dinosaur . In this case , the Cretaceous is the Period , and the belated Cretaceous is the Epoch .
decent now , we are in the Quaternary Period , and within this , we are in theHolocene Epoch , which began 11,700 years ago when the glaciers get to retreat and the earth warm up . This will now deepen to the Anthropocene Epoch , which will last tens of millions of years .
There are pot of markers of human activity , including the fact thatplastichas entered the rock cycle , thespike in atomic number 6 dioxidein the air from burn fossil fuels , and the sudden leap inspecies extinctionrates . However , the AWG have settled on theplutonium falloutfrom the atomic weapons tryout that begin in devout in the 50s as the “ primary signal ” .
There were several options for the get-go escort alternative , including around the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and 7,000 years ago , around the time that innovative agriculture and livestock farming became far-flung and methane grow by it begin to gradually , but noticeably , warm up the climate .
However , by 1950 , all human bodily function had accumulated to the point wherein it was clear beyond any sensible dubiousness that we had significantly modify the environment – and what better chief marker to have to underscore this than the debris left over from the mushroom clouds of nuclear weapons ?
to make it official , a specific rock unit will need to be find and choose as comprise the “ gilt spike ” – a accumulation of signal , including the elemental signal , which clearly marks the start of the Anthropocene . Only then can an official petition be made to the International Union of Geological Sciences , so for now , we ’re still officially lounging around in the Holocene .
Plastic entering the John Rock hertz was another considered primary signal . Rich Carey / Shutterstock
