A new geological era is defined by signals that occur globally and become part of the future geological record. In August 2016, at the Geological Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, experts recommended that the new Anthropocene epoch be declared due to humanity’s impact on the Earth. Today, the scale of change has intensified unbelievably, and in Toronto, Canada, Crawford Lake has become a historic marker for scientists. Geologists are recommending the start of a new geological epoch defined by how humans have impacted the Earth.
The earlier epoch, the Holocene, only survived eleven and a half millenia, but it was during this time that human civilization flourished. Since the last ice age, the earth’s climate was at its most stable, and the climate was more hospitable to the proliferation of plant and animal life.
We have now entered the Earth’s sixth major extinction. Alterations to the earth’s biosphere have been made in part by nuclear bomb testing which has blown radio-active elements into the stratosphere. During the second half of the 20th century, a large number of nuclear tests were conducted underground, underwater, and in the atmosphere, by the U.S and other nuclear powers. Radiation exposure from the testing caused a higher incidence of cancer in humans and animals; contaminated soil and vegetation; and the transfer of radiation from the atmosphere to the oceans has been assimilated by the marine environment.
While most experts believe the Anthropocene Epoch is a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, some argue that it actually began thousands of years ago, when the development of farming, and the raising of livestock began. However, new farming technology, which use artificial fertilizer, create high levels of phosphates and nitrogen in the soil, and causes nutrient pollution. Nutrient pollution affects water quality and is a potent greenhouse gas.
As humans started reshaping the environment to grow crops, and deforestation created a huge human footprint on the Earth, the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and more recent human impact on the Earth, starting from the mid 20th century, have accelerated the changes, and have stopped the growth of biodiversity.
The evidence of the Anthropocene epoch will be evident for future generations: 75% of animals will become extinct if the current trend continues. Fossil fuels will increase global warming and leave a permanent layer of carbon in glacial ice. Plastic in our oceans will leave fossil records. From the last century alone, fertilizers in the soil will increase nitrogen oxide and ammonia in our water and the environment.
The Astrophysicist Martin Rees has said this:
“…we could be of special cosmic significance for jump-starting the transition to electronic (and near immortal) entities, spreading their influence through the Galaxy and far transcending our limitations.”
Check out the music video for Holocene by Bon Hiver:
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