Scientists working for the International Anthropocene Working Group (IAWG) believe, well, that “the Anthropocene epoch” is really a thing. In other words, the newest epoch signifies a geological break with the Holocene after which human technological impact on the planet is irreversible. And now the group claims to be very close to proving that we have entered the Anthropocene epoch.
The research group claims to have found human imprints (e.g., plutonium) in the rock strata, most notably around Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, dating to about 1950. Far be it for me to question expert geologists, so I won’t even go into the remarkably precise resolution needed to distinguish a half-century layer of rock against many millions of years. They must know something that I do not.
What exasperates me is the ongoing insistence in the mainstream media on the relevance of “scientific proof.” Just as common sense would dictate that humans have profoundly altered the global climate over the past 50-75 years, we do not need scientists to convince us that we are seriously contaminating planet Earth. It matters because the precious time squandered in waiting for “proof” is time that could be utilized combatting the problem.
It is in this way that what today passes for “science” is subterfuge for status quo preservation (at least for a little longer).