Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Name Our Geological Age

Since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, the Earth has been in the 
Cenozoic Era (about 1/4 of a turn on the spiral figure).   This includes all of human history.  But humans are now having so much effect on the world, such as global warming, that geologists think the last century or so constitutes a new era for the Earth, which they call the Anthropocene.  With great power comes great responsibility, but unfortunately we have not shown a lot of the latter when it comes to the Earth.  If you don't like Anthropocene, Wired has a contest to name our geological age (thanks DG).   Most of the entries are silly or stupid.  It is currently a pitched battle between the serious "Anthropocene", and the cynical "Jackassic".