Yay for Us!

At school we learn about the epochs of geological time where for whatever reason, the character of the Earth changes: the Cambrian, the Jurassic, the Pleistocene etc. Some scientists are now saying that we have entered a new epoch, the Anthopocene: The Age of Man. “Humanity, they contend, can be considered a geophysical force on a par with supervolcanoes, asteroid impacts, or the kinds of tectonic shift that led to the massive glaciation of the Ordovician.”

With that idea comes the question: when did it start? At what point did our influence on the planet become so large that it justifies a new era? Agriculture? Industrialisation? One proposal interesting for the sudden and unambiguous effect is “around 1945, which handily provides a marker that’s sudden, distinctive, and global: the introduction of radioactive nuclei into the environment from the first atomic-bomb tests.”

Some people of course hate the idea that humans have such power, and hate humanity for affecting the earth, as if there is any other way to live (and as if previous geological changes have not been even more dramatic in their effects). But all I can say is: Yay for us! We’ve come a long way from an obscure savannah ape shaping rocks, haven’t we?