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Ditching ‘Anthropocene’: why ecologists say the term still matters

Beyond stratigraphic definitions, the name has broader significance for understanding humans’ place on Earth.
  1. David Adam
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A aerial view of a section of the Niger river in Bamako clogged with plastic waste and other polluting materials.

Plastic waste is clogging the Niger River in Bamako, Mali. After it sediments, plastic will become part of the geological record of human impacts on the planet. Credit: Michele Cattani/AFP via Getty

After 15 years of discussion, geologists last week decided that the Anthropocene — generally understood to be the age of irreversible human impacts on the planet — will not become an official epoch in Earth’s geological timeline.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00786-2

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