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July 13, 2023 | 5:36 p.m
From climate change to biodiversity loss and pollution, humans have shaped their impact on the Earth so profoundly and profoundly since the mid-20th century that a special team of scientists say a new geological epoch began then.
This epoch, known as the Anthropocene – derived from the Greek terms for “human” and “new” – began sometime between 1950 and 1954, according to the scientists.
While there is evidence around the world capturing the effects of burning fossil fuels, detonating nuclear weapons, and dumping fertilizer and plastics on land and in waterways, scientists are proposing a small but deep lake outside of Toronto, Canada — Crawford Lake – as a historical site in front of Marker.
“It’s very clear that the rate of change has increased incredibly and that it has to be human impact,” said University of Leicester geologist Colin Waters, who led the Anthropocene working group.
This puts human power in a similar class to the meteorite that fell to earth 66 million years ago, killing dinosaurs and ushering in the Cenozoic, the so-called Age of Mammalia.
Scientists said that the new epoch called the Anthropocene began between 1950 and 1954. AFP via Getty Images The geologic epoch was caused by human impacts on Earth, including climate change, pollution and species loss.AP
But not quite. While this meteorite ushered in a whole new era, the working group believes that man has merely ushered in a new epoch, which is a much smaller geological time span.
The group’s goal is to pinpoint a concrete start date for the Anthropocene by measuring the plutonium levels at the bottom of Crawford Lake.
The idea of the Anthropocene was proposed more than 20 years ago at a science conference by the late Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen.
By measuring the plutonium levels at the bottom of Crawford Lake, scientists hope to pinpoint the exact beginning of the Anthropocene. AP
Since then, teams of scientists have debated the issue and eventually formed a working group to study whether it was necessary and, if so, when the epoch would begin and where it would be thought of.
Crawford Lake, which is 79 feet (29 meters) deep and 258,333 square feet (24,000 square meters) in area, was chosen over 11 other sites because the annual impacts of human activities on the soil, atmosphere and biology of the Earth are so clearly visible its sediment layers.
This includes everything from nuclear fallout to species-threatening pollution to ever-rising temperatures.
Since about 1950, there have been clear and diverse signals at Crawford Lake showing that “human impacts are overwhelming the Earth system,” said Francine McCarthy, a committee member who specializes in the site and is a geosciences professor at Brock University in Canada.
Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen proposed the idea of the Anthropocene. AP
“The remarkably well-preserved annual record of Crawford Lake deposits is truly astounding,” said Marcia McNutt, president of the US National Academies of Sciences, who was not on the committee.
The Anthropocene showcased the power — and hubris — of humanity, several scientists said.
“The hubris is imagining that we’re in control,” said John Holdren, a former US White House science adviser who was not part of the working group of scientists and disagrees with the proposed launch date because he says it’s a lot aiming for an earlier date. “The reality is that our ability to change the environment far exceeds our understanding of the consequences and our ability to change course.”
Scientists believe the lake’s exceptionally well-preserved sedimentary strata serve as a reference point for a proposed new geological chapter in the planet’s history, defined by the significant changes caused by human activity: the Anthropocene. AFP via Getty Images
Geologists measure time in eons, ages, periods, epochs, and ages.
The scientific working group assumes that the Anthropocene followed the Holocene, which began around 11,700 years ago at the end of an ice age.
They also suggest the beginning of a new age called the Crawfordian, after the lake that was chosen as the starting point.
The proposal has yet to be approved by three different groups of geologists and could be approved at a major conference next year.
The reason geologists have not explained the Anthropocene as the beginning of a larger and more important timekeeping, such as a period, is that the current Quaternary period, which began almost 2.6 million years ago, is based on permanent ice at the Earth’s poles still.
But in a few hundred years, when climate change continues and these disappear, it might be time to change that, Waters said.
“If you know your Greek tragedies, you know that power, hubris, and tragedy go hand in hand,” said Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes, a member of the working group. “Unless we address the harmful aspects of human activities, most notably disruptive climate change, we face tragedy.”
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