Has the Anthropocene, the age of humans, arrived?

Has Earth already entered the Anthropocene Age, or the age of humans?

It is more than likely that it has, and it has done so faster than any geological age so far. At the heart of this global transformation is human activity since the mid-20th century.

For geologists to declare a new epoch takes a great deal of time because geological epochs take thousands of years or even millions of years to make in order for them to identifiably alter Earth’s surface.

However, the Anthropocene seems to have unfolded disturbingly fast and propelling its advent goes to the very heart of the raging climate crisis debate. That is because several markers which are considered evidence in the way Earth’s surface has changed since the mid-20th century are direct consequences of human activity.

Professor Jan Zalasiewicz, a geologist at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and a former chairman of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), tasked with determining the rise of the new age, listed them in a conversation with the online show Mayank Chhaya reports (MCR).