The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age
Earth has gone through various changes in its history of ~4.5 billion years. About 4 billion years ago, the Archean Eon began the formation of Earth’ crust, then the breakup of the single supercontinent and formation of others began the Proterozoic Eon 2.5 billion years ago. Plants began to spread and the first vertebrate animals appeared on the planet. Sometime around 1.5 billion years ago, the climate changed and the conditions on the planet aligned to create a perfect environment for the dominance of the dinosaur era. The Mesozoic era contained the Permian, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods which were halted by another change in earth’s history, marked by a vast extinction of most species on the planet. Finally, climate settled once more, giving rise to the current Cenozoic era.
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Today, the modern world lives in the Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic Era, within the Holocene, a period given name to the last 11,700 years of history since the end of the ice age.
Within the past couple of decades, the footprint that man is leaving on the planet is increasingly becoming more evident. From the beginning of earth’s evolution, we notice the periodic change of eras involving climate change from ecological processes from within the planet and its surrounding outer space, thus bringing natural ecological change. Due to this, we can assume that the other changes that the earth will likely undergo will also be part of its natural evolution. |
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However, humans have evolved along with the planet as well, developing larger foreheads and more perplexing brain connections that have allowed us to figure the world around us and use it to our benefit. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, human impact on the planet has been causing the planet to change in unnatural manners. In fact, some experts are increasingly arguing that human impact on earth in present time has been so profound that the Holocene should be given away and a new epoch should be noted on the earth.
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The new epoch, Anthropocene, is referred as the “Age of Man” which is defined predominantly by nuclear tests and plastic pollution. With the domesticated chicken as a contender for the fossil that would define the Anthropocene since it has become the world’s most common bird from the middle of the 20th century. The age of nuclear testing, which dispersed an abundance of radioactive elements into the stratosphere before settling into earth, has introduced vast numbers of chemicals and products that are harming the earth at rates that are truly unimaginable by simple talk without eyewitness encounters of harmful problems such as ozone-caused plant damage. The term Anthropocene was first popularized by Nobel laureate and atmospheric chemist, Paul Crutzen in 2000. Ever since, more scientists have found evidence for the needed declaration of the new epoch. The evidence resides within human activities such as rapid increases of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases causing global climate change. There is so much plastic in the earth’s water systems and oceans that microplastic particles are frequently found dispersed within the face of the earth. Fertilizers have added immense amounts nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil, ocean and atmosphere. |
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Many stratigraphers harshly criticize the idea of an official Anthropocene since clear-cut evidence for a new era is not yet recorded in ecosystems, such that it could be found in rock layers.
There are various facts that could mark the Anthropocene for the future, again the list goes on, but the “Age of Man” is already shaping the planet differently that it was compared to years ago. What people do not realize is the large time scale in which evolution takes place, the changes to the environment may seem unrealistic and invisible. But if one were to sum up all the years of pollution (and add the years of the future), all one has to do is take a step back and notice how the planet has changed just as it has in eras of the past. Whether people agree that the Anthropocene should be formally declared or not, it is extremely clear that earth is now under the dominance of the “Age of Man."
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Personal Critique:
Human ARE changing the evolution of the planet, albeit what many could counter argue. The list is increasingly huge, from habitat loss, to pollution-specifically air pollution and acid rain. All sources of air pollution are adding sulfur oxides that cause acid rain. Ground level ozone is increasing the temperatures of urban areas. Even if there are regulations to pollution it is already there, and humanity constantly seems to making more air pollution than it takes away pollution from the atmosphere. As time goes by, the ground level ozone that warms urban areas will spread onto other regions and damage habitats that are not accustomed to the warmer temperatures. Species will not be able to survive. It is clear today that various species are under serious endangered extinction, thus leading to a new era where the planet will be forced to adapt to pollutants with extinction of species and possibly the rise of other species adapted to the pollution.
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APA CITATION
Carrington, D. (2016, August 29). The Anthropocene epoch: Scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-geological-congress-human-impact-earth
Holocene Epoch. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-environment/geology-and-oceanography/geology-and-oceanography/holocene-epoch
Stromberg, J. (2013, January 01). What Is the Anthropocene and Are We in It? Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/
What is the geologic time scale? -. (2016, April 19). Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://greenforecast.com/what-is-the-geologic-time-scale/
Windley, B. F. (2016, September 14). Archean Eon. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/science/Archean-Eon
Carrington, D. (2016, August 29). The Anthropocene epoch: Scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-geological-congress-human-impact-earth
Holocene Epoch. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-environment/geology-and-oceanography/geology-and-oceanography/holocene-epoch
Stromberg, J. (2013, January 01). What Is the Anthropocene and Are We in It? Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/
What is the geologic time scale? -. (2016, April 19). Retrieved March 16, 2017, from http://greenforecast.com/what-is-the-geologic-time-scale/
Windley, B. F. (2016, September 14). Archean Eon. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from https://www.britannica.com/science/Archean-Eon