1610: The Start of The Anthropocene Epoch?

[Sturgeon]

A combination of new research and semantic wankery has created the Anthropocene Epoch, a proposed geological time period delineating from the year 1610 the start of widespread human influence on climate.

I suspect this will be short-lived, as research will reveal that humans have been jacking with the climate since we had tails, and that it is in fact relatively normal for organisms to have major effects on the climate.

[xthetenth]

A combination of new research and semantic wankery has created the Anthropocene Epoch, a proposed geological time period delineating from the year 1610 the start of widespread human influence on climate.

I suspect this will be short-lived, as research will reveal that humans have been jacking with the climate since we had tails, and that it is in fact relatively normal for organisms to have major effects on the climate.

 

Rome. Mercury based mining and other fun stuff. Heck, even the sort of stuff people were getting up to in the Americas was having a dramatic effect on ecosystems, which could have knock-on effects.

 

There ya go!

 

On the other hand stuff like iron production spiked dramatically during the early modern and I wouldn't be surprised if the magnitude spike in the results of our direct actions messing with the climate rather than things like changes in ecosystems started in about that time period.

[Toxn]

I think the crux of the concept (which I consider a useful one, just to lay my cards on the table) is that we started to have a consistent, global impact.

 

At this point, humanity is one of the driving forces on the planet in terms of land usage, CO2 production, erosion, water usage and so on. As such, it might be a good idea to be cognisant of our impact and thus begin to direct and control it, rather than flailing ignorantly against the walls of our suddenly-small house.