Scientists say the new chapter in history shows the power — and hubris — of humankind.
How do you quantify 170 trillion pieces of plastic in the Earth's oceans? Two researchers who were part of a major plastic pollution study sat down with FOX TV Stations to explain., humans have etched their impact on Earth with such strength and permanence since the middle of the 20th century that a special team of scientists says a new geologic epoch began then.
This puts the power of humans in a somewhat similar class with the meteorite that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, killing off dinosaurs and starting the Cenozoic Era, or what is conversationally known as the age of mammals. But not quite. While that meteorite started a whole new era, the working group is proposing that humans only started a new epoch, which is a much smaller geologic time period.
There are distinct and multiple signals starting around 1950 in Crawford Lake showing that "the effects of humans overwhelm the Earth system," said Francine McCarthy, a committee member who specializes in that site as an Earth sciences professor at Brock University in Canada."The remarkably preserved annual record of deposition in Crawford Lake is truly amazing," said U.S. National Academies of Sciences President Marcia McNutt, who wasn’t part of the committee.
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Scientists say a new epoch marked by humans’ impact on Earth — the Anthropocene — began in 1950sHumans have etched their impact on the Earth with such strength and permanence since the middle of the 20th century that a special team of scientists says a new geologic epoch began then.
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Scientists say a new epoch of human impact — the Anthropocene — began in 1950sScientists believe that the sediment layers of a lake in Canada point to a new era marked by the damaging consequences of human activities.
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Humans’ negative impact on Earth began in 1950s with Anthropocene: scientistsFrom climate change to species loss and pollution, humans have etched their impact on Earth with such strength and permanence since the 1950s, that a special team of scientists says a new geologic …
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Humans' impact on Earth created new epoch in 50s, AnthropoceneFrom climate crisis to species loss and pollution, humans have etched their impact on Earth with such strength since the middle of the 20th century that a special team of scientists says a new geologic epoch began then — the Anthropocene
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This quiet lake could mark the start of a new Anthropocene epochThe official marker for the start of a new Anthropocene epoch should be a small Canadian lake whose sediments capture chemical traces of the fallout from nuclear bombs and other forms of environmental degradation
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