Geologists have long been discussing whether it might not be time to declare the age shaped by humans – the Anthropocene. But an age is not something that can be explained so simply, even if there is hardly a place on earth where there are no traces of human activity. From a geological point of view, these traces must also be detectable using geological methods, and in the long term. Garbage-filled beaches, rare animal species, noise, beautiful and less beautiful buildings and of course the obviously increased temperatures may shape life on earth, but from this perspective they don’t count, at least not directly.
The traces of the nuclear tests from the 1950s, however, can be easily detected in the ground. Actually, a place had already been found that exemplifies these and other human influences and where the new age could have been established, Lake Crawford in Canada. But now a panel of geologists has surprisingly refused to define the Anthropocene in this way. My colleague Christoph von Eichhorn wrote down why this could be and what happens next.
Personally I find the debate interesting, from an academic perspective, geology is a fascinating science. But on the other hand, I also think: It doesn’t actually make a big difference what we call this time of ours. You can see and feel everywhere what we humans have done, sometimes good, unfortunately often also bad. The February temperatures would have been better suited to April this year, the seas are still far too warm, the list goes on.
One should not worry about when the Anthropocene began, but rather about how it ends, colleagues from Economist in the past year once written. At least we still have that in our hands. It’s easy to imagine unpleasant scenarios – but there is also a lot of reason for hope. We should just get going slowly. After all, many people want to protect the climate and would even be willing to pay for it, but too little is still happening, as you can read in this large overview with graphics.
Despite or because of everything, I wish you a nice weekend and a nice, just really warm spring. If you don’t have a bird song app on your phone yet, get one, it’s great.
(This text comes from the weekly Newsletter Climate Fridaythat you here free of charge can order.)