The world entered the Anthropocene Era in the mid-20th Century. Anthropocene is basically a period of time during which human activities have impacted the environment enough to constitute a distinct geological change. Scientists are of the opinion that there is (almost) no place on the Earth where human beings have not left their footprints. Choking greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, growing usage of microplastics and harmful chemicals, chicken bones and old mobile phones… human authority is visible everywhere and the evidence of damage to nature caused by human activities, too, is quite clear. All these prove that the Era of Anthropocene has begun. A group of scientists, who have been conducting research on the Anthropocene since 2009, came out with their report on July 12, 2023.

Technically, human beings are still living in the Holocene Epoch. This geological epoch had begun 11,700 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene. It continues to the present day, and shall last even after the next Glacial Period (or Glaciation, an interval time of nearly 1,000 years within an Ice Age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances). It may be noted that the last Glacial Period ended about 15,000 years ago. Meanwhile, scientists have claimed that the Anthropocene Era began in the mid-20th Century (after the end of the Holocene Epoch) mainly because of human activities. Of course, this is a debatable issue.

Scientists have found evidence of changes in the Earth triggered by human activities while examining the soil layers beneath the seawater in Japan’s Beppu Bay. It is a place, located on the northeast coast of Kyushu in Ōita Prefecture, which witnessed the beginning of a new geological era. Geologists have also identified 12 more such places, and these are called Golden Spike Locations. These locations include Peatlands in Poland and coral reefs in Australia.

Professor Michinobu Kuwae of Ehime University Centre for Marine Environmental Studies has been monitoring the Beppu Bay area for a long time. He began with investigations of how Climate Change affected fish populations, with layers of deposited fish scales in the Bay’s sediment offering clues about the past. “This potential golden spike, given the many anthropogenic fingerprints, including man-made chemicals and radionuclides, layered in the bay’s sediment. The layers allow scientists to pinpoint the precise date and level of an Anthropocene-Holocene boundary. There are the most diverse anthropogenic markers,” Professor Kuwae told AFP.

Human beings have left a number of clues as to how they started a new era of domination over the Earth in the mid-20th Century. For example, one can mention a sudden increase in the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere or the increase of Methane and other greenhouse gases or radiation of radioactive materials due to testing of atomic bombs or the presence of microplastics everywhere and transmission of new diseases. Scientists have found evidence of human aggression even in chicken bones.

Geologist Carys Bennett has said that they compared the bones of the modern meat chicken to the bones of their ancestors dating back to Roman times. “Modern broiler chickens are radically different – they have a super-sized skeleton, distinct bone chemistry reflecting the homogeneity of their diet and significantly reduced genetic diversity. This is because a modern broiler is twice the size of a chicken from the medieval period and they have been bred for one thing: rapid weight gain,” stressed the Geologist. “The modern bird is now so changed from its ancestors, that its distinctive bones will undoubtedly become fossilised markers of the time when humans reigned the planet,” Bennett mentioned in the study report recently published by ‘Royal Society Open Science’. It is clear from the study that human beings have played with nature, and have changed its identity through a kind of hacking.

British Palaeobiologist Jan Zalasiewicz has been working with the Anthropocene Working Group for more than a decade. When asked if there was anywhere on the Earth that lacked signs of human influence, he replied: “It’s hard to think of a more remote place than the Pine Island glacier in Antarctica.” However, scientists found traces of plutonium after drilling deep below the glacier’s ice a few years ago. It shows that the fallout from nuclear weapon tests, which began in 1945, has left behind a radioactive presence even deep in the glaciers. Commenting on this, Zalasiewicz stressed that these radionuclides represented perhaps “the sharpest signal” to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch 70 years ago. However, “there is an awful lot to choose from,” he added.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das