[News Terms] The New Era That Began After the End of the Present Age: the 'Anthropocene'

'Anthropocene (人類世·Andoroposhin·Anthropocene)' is a concept that designates the period from the time when humanity began to have a significant impact on the Earth's environment as a distinct geological epoch. It is a compound word of 'anthropos,' meaning human, and 'cene,' meaning era, signifying a geological epoch shaped by humans.

Although the exact starting point is not agreed upon, if the change in the atmosphere during the current epoch, the Holocene, which is the last geological epoch, is used as a criterion, the Industrial Revolution serves as the benchmark.

The core of the Anthropocene is the change in the Earth's environment caused by humans. Recent climate change is directly linked to air pollution from the use of fossil fuels.
[Photo by Pixabay]

The core of the Anthropocene is the change in the Earth's environment caused by humans. Regarding biodiversity, it refers to the acceleration of extinctions due to human activities. Many species have become extinct or are at risk of extinction due to direct hunting and deforestation caused by development, including the reduction of tropical rainforests. Climate change is directly linked to air pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels.

The concept of the Anthropocene was established by geologists to mean "the Earth knows everything about what humans have done to the planet so far."

On the 11th (local time), The New York Times (NYT) and CNN reported that the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), composed of geologists, selected Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, as the 'Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP),' a geological layer representing the Anthropocene.

The Anthropocene was first proposed in 2000 by Paul Crutzen, a Dutch atmospheric chemist and Nobel Chemistry Prize laureate, and spread throughout academia. Crutzen suggested naming this new geological epoch the Anthropocene, stating that excessive industrialization, nuclear development, ore mining, and greenhouse gas emissions had ushered the Earth's environment into a new geological era.

Chemical traces of nuclear bomb tests, such as plutonium, were found in the sediments of Crawford Lake. Official recognition of the Anthropocene is expected to be decided at the 37th International Geological Congress to be held in Busan next August. If the Anthropocene is officially recognized, the Holocene, which began 11,700 years ago, will end, and a new epoch will begin.

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