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The Earth-System Humanization Event (ESHE)
Summary
Researchers proposed the concept of the Earth-System Humanization Event (ESHE) to describe the transition in which human activities became the dominant force shaping Earth system processes, examining evidence from stratigraphy, biogeochemistry, and material culture including synthetic plastics. The ESHE framework situates the Anthropocene within a longer history of human-environment interaction and offers a systems-level perspective on planetary boundary transgression.
Currently, an intense debate exists over whether the Anthropocene should be considered a formal series/epoch on the International Chronostratigraphic Chart/Geological Time Scale (ICC/GTS) or a geological event.Recent developments have cast doubt on the former option, with the rejection of a proposal submitted to the Subcommission of Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) (Voosen, 2024;Witze, 2024).This rejection, which was further ratified by the International Union of Geological Science (IUGS, 2024), has strengthened the notion of the Anthropocene as a geological event, as proposed in recent years (Gibbard et al., 2022a, b).However, the term Anthropocene, originally coined to define an epoch (Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000), may be deemed unsuitable for naming an event.This commentary briefly reviews the most recent developments regarding the rejection of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch, and suggests a more appropriate name for an alternative event.
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