Anthropocene

The Anthropocene (/ˈænθrəpəˌsiːn, ænˈθrɒpə-/ ^[1][2][3]) is the common name for a proposed geological epoch, dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth up to the present day. It affects Earth's geology, landscape, limnology, ecosystems and climate.^[4][5] The effects of human activities on Earth can be seen for example in biodiversity loss and climate change. Various start dates for the Anthropocene have been proposed, ranging from the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution (12,000–15,000 years ago), to as recently as the 1960s as a starting date. The biologist Eugene F. Stoermer is credited with first coining and using the term anthropocene informally in the 1980s, Paul J. Crutzen re-invented and popularized the term.^[6]

In May 2019, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) voted in favour of submitting a formal proposal to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) by 2021.^[7] The proposal located potential stratigraphic markers to the mid-20th century.^[8][7][9] This time period coincides with the start of the Great Acceleration, a post-World War II time period during which global population growth, pollution and exploitation of natural resources have all increased at a dramatic rate.^[10] The Atomic Age also started around the mid-20th century, when the risks of nuclear wars, nuclear terrorism and nuclear accidents increased.

The Anthropocene Working Group of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the ICS voted in April 2016 to proceed towards a formal golden spike (GSSP) proposal to define the Anthropocene epoch in the geologic time scale. The group presented the proposal to the International Geological Congress in August 2016.^[11]

Twelve candidate sites were selected for the GSSP; the sediments of Crawford Lake, Canada were finally proposed, in July 2023, to mark the lower boundary of the Anthropocene, starting with the Crawfordian stage/age in 1950.^[12][13] In March 2024, after 15 years of deliberation, the Anthropocene Epoch proposal of the AWG was voted down by a wide margin by the SQS, owing largely to its shallow sedimentary record and extremely recent proposed start date.^[14][15] The ICS and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) later formally confirmed, by a near unanimous vote, the rejection of the AWG's Anthropocene Epoch proposal for inclusion in the Geologic Time Scale.^[16][17][18] The IUGS statement on the rejection concluded: "Despite its rejection as a formal unit of the Geologic Time Scale, Anthropocene will nevertheless continue to be used not only by Earth and environmental scientists, but also by social scientists, politicians and economists, as well as by the public at large. It will remain an invaluable descriptor of human impact on the Earth system."^[18]