The New Epoch of The Earth's History, The Anthropocene and The Environmental Issues Associated with It

According to many scientists, the Earth has entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene. While it is still up for debate about whether or not we should consider the era we live in now as a new epoch, scientists have suggested that we have officially moved out of the Holocene and into the Anthropocene. The Holocene was a period of 12,000 years of stable climate ranging from the ice age to recent history. During this time, all of human civilization occurred. However, because of this civilization, we have entered a state of instability in our environment including an acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions, rising sea levels, the transformation of our land via deforestation and one of the largest global mass extinctions in history. If scientists “approve” of moving into a new epoch, the Anthropocene will have officially began around 1950. In order to “approve” of a new epoch, scientists must define the epoch through a signal that can be found globally. The Cretaceous epoch, for example, is defined by the “golden spike” in reference to the high levels of metal iridium dispersed by the meteorite that collided with Earth at the end of the dinosaur age. Deliberations have taken place about what would be considered the Anthropocene signal. The most promising signal is the radioactive elements dispersed across the planets by nuclear bomb tests. However, plastic pollution soot, concrete, and bones from domestic chickens are being considered. Starting a new epoch in human history is a very important but also terrifying experience because for the first time in history, this epoch was man-made. Professor Chris Rapley tells The Guardian: “Since the planet is our life support system – we are essentially the crew of a largish spaceship – interference with its functioning at this level and on this scale is highly significant. If you or I were crew on a smaller spacecraft, it would be unthinkable to interfere with the systems that provide us with air, water, fodder and climate control. But the shift into the Anthropocene tells us that we are playing with fire, a potentially reckless mode of behaviour which we are likely to come to regret unless we get a grip on the situation.” The good news, according to Lord Martin Rees is that “Human societies could navigate these threats, achieve a sustainable future, and inaugurate eras of post-human evolution even more marvelous than what’s led to us. The dawn of the Anthropocene epoch would then mark a one-off transformation from a natural world to one where humans jumpstart the transition to electronic (and potentially immortal) entities, that transcend our limitations and eventually spread their influence far beyond the Earth.”

Entering into a new epoch is not hurting anyone, however, the reasons we are entering it are doing much harm. As stated before, the overall environment is changing. We are losing land, leading ourselves into a mass extinction, warming the planet, and all of these have a severe impact in everyone on Earth lives. We are losing crops, deforestation is leading to new zoonotic diseases, warming ocean temperatures is leading to stronger storms, and so on. But while it is easy to point out who is getting hurt, it is not as easy to point out who is getting help. Although, I do believe that the labeling of a new epoch will greatly help the acknowledgment of the changing global patterns. This acknowledgement by more people may lead to more sustainable practices than what we are already doing and may lead to greater participation and research. So far, we are focusing on sustainable resources, like wind and solar power to help use less fossil fuels. We are also focusing on the slowing of deforestation to help mitigate the current mass extinction and appearance of new zoonotic diseases. We have created new electric cars to try and cut down on our carbon footprint as well as taxing companies who chose not to follow laws that reduce carbon emissions. With this new geological epoch, I believe that many more people will feel inclined to finally do something about their environment, even if it means just using recycled bags. While we cannot stop this new epoch from coming into existence, I do believe that we need to focus on ways of slowing it down. More research and funding should be placed into renewable recourses like wind and solar energy, laws should be implemented a federal level to improve recycling participation, and more research needs to be done in order to explain to people the real impact of these practices. We know that the steps listed above will greatly improve our environment but this information needs to be presented to the general population as a MUST not as an option. Until we can do that, the Anthropocene will continue to accelerate until we can no longer live on this Earth.