Tinkering With Time: The Questionable Campaign to Conjure Up an ‘Anthropocene’ Epoch

Commentary In an era defined by rapid technological advances, growing concerns about humanity’s impact on the planet are penetrating even normally quiet disciplines of natural history. Take the proposed new geological epoch, the “Anthropocene.” Introducing a new (and still unfolding) epoch into the geological record—marked by our recent chemical “footprints” and traces of nuclear explosions—has serious implications and any such process should stick to the rigorous standards of geological science. This doesn’t appear to be top of mind to the Anthropocene’s proponents, whose concept withers under the harsh light of serious scrutiny. This new idea of an “Anthropocene” is wafting in the sooty wake of the Industrial Revolution, the belief that humanity has significantly shifted the course of Earth’s physical history. In short, that the activities of an industrializing planet over the last 80–250 years are so impactful that they will leave traces not only in the atmosphere of today, but in the geological rock record thousands, millions, or even billions of years from now....