Negative Impact Of Humans On The Environment – Fishermen float in boats amid plastic waste in Manila Bay, Philippines. Humans have introduced 300m metric tons of plastic into the environment every year. Photo: Erik de Castro/Reuters

A new study provides one of the strongest cases yet that the planet has entered a new geological era

Negative Impact Of Humans On The Environment

There is now strong evidence to show that human influence on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife has pushed the world into a new geological era, according to a group of scientists.

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The question of whether the combined environmental impact of humans has tipped the planet into the “Anthropocene” – ending the current Holocene which began around 12,000 years ago – will be put to the geological body that officially approves the division of that time later this year.

The new study provides one of the strongest cases yet that from the amount of concrete used by humans in buildings to the amount of plastic waste dumped in the oceans, the Earth has entered a new geological era.

“We can see here a change from one world to another that justifies being called an era,” said Dr. Colin Waters, lead geologist at the British Geological Survey and author of the study published in Science on Thursday.

“What this paper does is to state the magnitude of the changes that occurred at the end of the last ice age. This is a big problem.

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They say that the scale and rate of changes in measures such as CO2 and methane concentrations in the atmosphere are greater and faster than the changes that defined the start of the Holocene.

Humans have introduced new changes, geologically speaking, such as approximately 300m metric tons of plastic are produced each year. Concrete has become so common in construction that more than half of all concrete ever used was produced in the last 20 years.

Wildlife is now being pushed into smaller areas on Earth, with only 25% of ice-free land considered wild today compared to 50% three centuries ago. As a result, species extinction rates are higher than the long-term average.

But the study says that the clearest fingerprint left by humans, in geological terms, is the presence of isotopes from nuclear weapons tests conducted in the 1950s and 60s.

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Tower blocks in Hong Kong. More than half of all concrete ever used was produced in the last 20 years. Photo: Bobby Yip/Reuters

“The most widespread and globally synchronous anthropogenic signal is the result of nuclear weapons testing,” the paper said.

“I hope that a good candidate [for the only evidence to justify a new age] … we can recognize it in the glacial ice, so if the ice core is taken from Greenland, we can say that it was established there [since the Anthropocene],” said Waters.

The study says that accelerating technological change, and the growth of population and consumption have led to the move to the Anthropocene, which advocates the concept started in the middle of the 20th century.

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“We are the main geological force, and this has really been the case since we experienced these technological advances after the second world war. Before it was horses and carts that transported goods around the planet, nothing important, nothing happened dramatically,” said Waters .

He added that the study should not be considered as a “conclusive statement” that the Anthropocene has arrived, but as “another level of information” for the debate on whether it should be officially declared as an era by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).

The common isotope in nature, 14C, and the rare natural isotope, 293Pu, are in the middle of the earth due to nuclear testing in the 1950s and 60s. Photo: Associated Press

Waters said that if the ICS were to officially choose to make the Anthropocene an official era, it would be important for the wider world to convey the scale of what humans are doing to Earth.

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“We [society] are aware of the ongoing climate discussion. This is one aspect of the changes that are happening on the whole planet. What this paper does, and the concept of the Anthropocene, is that it is part of all the changes not only the atmosphere, but seas, ice – the glaciers used for this project may not be here in 10,000 years.

“People now know about the environment, but maybe the information is not available to show the scale of the changes that are happening.”

The international team behind the paper includes several other members of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy’s Anthropocene working group, which hopes to submit a proposal to the ICS later this year. The increased use of the term Anthropocene is credited to Paul Crutzen, a Nobel prize-winning Dutch atmospheric chemist, after he wrote about it in 2000.

Key signs of change that characterize the Anthropocene. A indicates a new signal, while B indicates a long signal. Photo: sciencemag.org

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Prof Phil Gibbard, a geologist at the University of Cambridge who originally set up a working group examining the formalization of the Anthropocene, said that while he respected the work of Waters and others on the topic, he questioned how useful it was in heralding a new era. .

“It’s really close to now that we can do this. This doesn’t mean that I or my colleagues are climate change deniers or anything like that, we know the point: the data and the science are there.

“What we ask is philosophy, and it’s useful. It’s like having a spanner but it’s useless,” he said.

Gibbard suggests it might be better if the Anthropocene is seen as a cultural term – like the Neolithic era, the end of the Stone Age – rather than a geological one. We and our partners use cookies to store and/or access information about your device. We and our partners use the data for personalized Ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Examples of processed data may be unique identifiers stored in cookies. Some of our partners may process your data as part of their legitimate business interests without asking for your consent. To see the purpose they believe they have a legitimate interest for, or to object to the processing of this data, use the vendor list link below. The submitted consent will only be used for the processing of data originating from this website. If you want to change your settings or withdraw your consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from the home page.

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Humans have always affected the environment in negative, almost irreparable ways. Humans’ negative impact on the environment is seen in our tendency to waste the food we consume, the fuel we use, and the products we buy.

Human negative impact on the environment includes phenomena such as overpopulation, smog, deforestation, noise pollution, water pollution, and oil spills. This can affect everything from the air we breathe and the water we drink to the soil we need to grow our food.

Overpopulation can cause various negative effects on the environment. The most visible will be the green space. Another important issue related to overpopulation is the increase in new construction that draws more electricity and requires more resources. Both of these phenomena lead to the negative impact of humans on the environment.

“Smog” was first coined in the early 1900s and is a combination of the words smoke and fog. It was largely powered by coal, the primary heating source for almost all businesses and homes at the time.

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Not only is smog very dangerous to breathe, it can also kill plants. Smog blocks sunlight and prevents plants from getting the nutrients they need to survive. When we breathe in smog, it can increase diseases such as asthma and even cause emphysema.

Hand in hand with the impact of overpopulation comes deforestation. Decreasing forests and green space to make way for more houses and businesses is a big problem. It can also cause disturbance in the animal kingdom as it destroys the habitat of birds and other creatures that live in the forest.

More people means more housing is needed, and thus more space is taken up. The first thing to do when building a new building is to clear the ground of all living things, such as trees, wild plants and grass. That means the loss of small creatures and insects that live in the cleared soil.

Plants and trees use carbon dioxide and diffuse oxygen, creating natural air filters. By carrying out large-scale deforestation, we are depleting our own oxygen supply, increasing humanity’s negative impact on the environment.

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Noise pollution is an influence that few people think about, but it can affect the environment and quality of life. Loud noises, such as heavy machinery or many cars on the interstate, can startle these animals, and frighten them.

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