Comments on: Those Arrogant Humans

By: Carren

Carren — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:16:14 +0000

As far as infertile dirt goes, that is quite true. One major crop that causes the soil to be infertile are sugar beets. After the beets are harvested the soil is “no good” for about 5 years unless you “super-fertilize” it.

By: Jerry M. Weikle

Jerry M. Weikle — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:48:56 +0000

While the terminology “Anthropocene Epoch” is a correct statement, I would have to agree that actually naming a New Epoch should be left to the Scientific and Anthropological Communities. Having read the current article from GSA Today, v. 18, no 2. by Zalasiewicz and William, I found the article informative and descriptive upon the classification of the new Epoch.
Not only has this species entered into the 21st Century, but entering into a new Epoch is, to say the least, historical.
This should be on the front page of every Newspaper across the Globe, as humans are a global species. What would Malthus say about us?

By: Ski

Ski — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:29:43 +0000

Somebody please tell Erik to read up a little on geographic history. The Sahara has gone back and forth from desert more than a few times in the last 100,000 years. The last green period between 8000 BC and 6000 BC was notable for it’s lack of chain saws. Climate changes radically over time. We really don’t have that much influence. No more than dinosaurs passing gas caused the end of that epoch.

By: redstone_1

redstone_1 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:58:31 +0000

I think this is a very astute geological action. Whenever there are great changes in the chemical or physical makeup of a strata, that’s usually where you put the “ice age ended here” mark. If you take a core from any industrialized part of the earth, you’ll find marked differences in the appearance of layers from the past two hundred years compared to pre-industrial ages. It won’t be a very thick strata yet, but I think it should be a new one.

Consider this - if between 1200 AD and 1600 AD it rained trash everyday, there would be inches or feet of trash covering the earth underneath the soil. That little time period might be called the Wasteocene. It would certainly mark a difference from the time before it rained trash and the time after it rained trash. Well, its sort of raining trash now, but in the form of sulfer, mercury and other pollutants that don’t stack up quite the way trash does, but still stack up. It wasn’t there before, and after we leave it will be gone. Thus, you name it something new because its a new set of circumstances.

If the shoe fits right?

For those remaining Ditto-heads who question whether we can affect the world around us: Arrogance or Ignorance - you’ve clearly made your choice.

By: ed_pardo

ed_pardo — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:51:36 +0000

Arrogance isn’t the right term, ignorance fits better. Recently a couple of U.C. scientists determined that mass extinctions occur about every 62 million years. The KT event was about 65 million years ago. The proper name for the current era then technically is the End Holocene event or the 6th great extinction.