The New Yorker’s Michelle Nijhuis summarizes the discussion concerning the proposal to designate the beginning of a new geologic epoch, the Anthropocene:
The group’s members are pondering whether the human imprint on this planet is large and clear enough to warrant the christening of a new epoch, one named for us: the Anthropocene. If it is, they and their fellow-geologists must decide when the old epoch ends and the new begins.
Basically, if human activity is detectable in geologic activity, then we transition from the current Holocene. This is somewhat more momentous than it seems since a positive resolution would signify a recognition of human capacity to actually modify reality on a world-wide basis – although in a random, chaotic manner, rather than a planned manner; terraforming, the process of transforming an entire world, initially hostile to life as we know it, into a world that can support such life, is not yet within our grasp.
Nature has published “Defining the Anthropocene” (paywall), in which authors Simon L. Lewis & Mark A. Maslin put forth arguments for two dates, which Michelle notes for readers unwilling to risk the Nature subscription.. 1610 is the first candidate, as Arctic ice cores identify that year for a drop in CO2 levels attributable to the deaths of millions of American Indians: their farmland reverted to forest, in the process absorbing large amounts of carbon. 1964 is the second proposed date:
… in rock layers by its high proportion of radioactive isotopes—fallout from nuclear-weapons testing.
To my mind, a sustained signal in the geologic data is key to accepting either date. The decision is up to a committee.
There decision is also interesting in how it may transform scientific communications with the public. Consider this “One Minute Interview: All hail the Anthropocene“, published in NewScientist (21 March 2015) (paywall), with biologist and journalist Christian Schwägerl:
You say we have to end “Holocene thinking”. What does that mean?
Holocene thinking rests on the assumption that there is this big, inexhaustible alien space out there that we call the environment, from where we can get our raw materials and food and where we can dump waste. The environment will become the “invironment” in the Anthropocene – something we are deeply connected with.What can people do to support this vision?
Don’t get colonised by destructive industries. Enjoy breathing, eating, being in a forest or a green city space, enjoy helping others, paying attention to the colours and smells and creatures around you. In the Anthropocene we may one day cherish a square metre of wilderness as much as a painting of the same size by Van Gogh or Cézanne.
