Did We Just Enter a New Era? The Anthropocene

By Ephraim Agbo 

In 2000, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen made a bold claim—humanity had altered Earth so profoundly that we had entered a new epoch: the Anthropocene, replacing the Holocene, which began 12,000 years ago after the last Ice Age.

What’s an Epoch?

Epochs mark major global shifts. Examples:

• 66 million years ago – An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
• 12,000 years ago – The Ice Age ended, leading to human civilization.

Is There Proof?

Scientists searched for physical evidence of human-driven change. Key events considered:

• The Industrial Revolution – Pollution from coal burning.
• Deforestation – Mass land clearing for cities and farming.
• Nuclear tests – Radioactive fallout from bomb explosions.

A breakthrough came from Crawford Lake, Canada, where deep sediment layers contained plutonium from 1952, a radioactive marker from nuclear tests—proposed as the golden spike defining the Anthropocene.

The Great Acceleration

Since the 1950s, human impact has skyrocketed:

• Population grew from 2.5 billion to over 8 billion.
• Plastic production surged from 1 million tons per year (1950) to 400+ million tons today.
• Carbon emissions and concrete use soared.

These changes may leave an irreversible mark on Earth’s history.

Rejection of the Anthropocene

In March 2024, the International Commission on Stratigraphy rejected the Anthropocene as an official epoch, arguing:

• It’s too recent—epochs usually last millions of years.
• Lack of enough global geological evidence.
• Debate over whether human impact is permanent.

What This Means for Us

Whether officially recognized or not, the evidence is clear:

• Plastics are embedded in Earth’s layers.
• Nuclear radiation lingers in sediments.
• Carbon pollution is locked in glaciers and tree rings.

The Big Question

Will future scientists see the Anthropocene as a fleeting disaster—or the beginning of a new Earth era? The answer depends on what we do next.