Anthropocene

The Anthropocene (/ˈænθrəpəˌsiːn, ænˈθrɒpə-/ ) is the common name for an alleged but officially unrecognized 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. 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.

In May 2019, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) voted in favour of submitting a formal proposal to the ICS by 2021. The proposal located potential stratigraphic markers to the mid-20th century. 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. 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.

As of April 2024, neither the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) nor the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has approved the term as an official subdivision of geologic time. In March 2024, after 15 years of deliberation, a proposal by the IUGS to ratify the Anthropocene was voted down by a wide margin, primarily due to a dispute over the proposed start time in the mid-20th century.

Although the biologist Eugene F. Stoermer is often credited with coining the term anthropocene, it was already in informal use in the mid-1970s. Paul J. Crutzen re-invented and popularised the term.