Is it finally our time?

Let’s be honest… we’ve been on top of the food chain for a while now.

And we’ve done some pretty cool things – discover agriculture, build megacities, perfect our guacamole recipe…

Some geologists think we’re such a big deal that a name change is under consideration. Currently, we live in the Holocene epoch, which began over 11,000 years ago.

Now the more flattering Anthropocene may be formally proposed in our honor in 2016.

Our very own epoch! Sounds rather fitting.

Although this might seem like a species-wide vanity project, considering all the carbon emissions, radiation, and plastics we’ve dispersed, there’s solid evidence that we’ve changed the Earth for good.

Scholars are debating when the period should start. The line has been drawn anywhere from the agricultural revolution to the industrial revolution to somewhere in the distant future.

Changing the time scale is a big decision. As one author puts it,

“The geological time scale is as fundamental to the discipline as the periodic table is to chemistry.” 

Science may be ready to formally acknowledge that this is our time. Now, it’s up to us to make the most of it.