New Mexico
This is the idea behind the Anthropocene, a new epoch in Earth history proposed by the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen just 15 years ago. Since then the idea has spread widely through both the sciences and humanities. Humans have long affected the environment, and ideas as to when the Anthropocene might start range from the thousands of years ago with the dawn of agriculture, to the Industrial Revolution – and even to the future (for the greatest human-made changes could still be to come). Hence, we suggest that the Anthropocene (formal or informal) be defined to begin historically at the moment of detonation of the Trinity A-bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, at 05:29:21 Mountain War Time (± 2 s) July 16, 1945 (= 11:29:21 Co-ordinated Universal Time = Greenwich Mean Time). Here, we evaluate when the Anthropocene might be considered to have begun, as sufficient relevant studies have already been published (notably, those concerned with stratigraphic examination of the Anthropocene in Waters et al., 2014a) for interim assessment of this question. The question of when the Anthropocene started and how we can know it is not a trivial one, as it fundamentally hinges on our understanding of causes and effects of the Anthropocene. During these two weeks, students will begin extensively discussing literature and important concepts in discussion forums.  1. The advent of the Anthropocene concept has brought with it the question of where its boundary should be. The term was first suggested to reflect the perturbation of surface Earth processes by human activities (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000 and Crutzen, 2002) and very soon became widely used (e.g. Steffen et al., 2007). Here, we evaluate when the Anthropocene might be considered to have begun, as sufficient relevant studies have already been published (notably, those concerned with stratigraphic examination of the Anthropocene in Waters et al., 2014a) for interim assessment of this question. Some argue that humans began changing the global environment about 50,000 years back, in the Pleistocene epoch, helping along if not outright causing the mass extinctions of megafauna, from mammoths to giant kangaroos, on most continents. Others date it to the emergence of agriculture some 7,000 years ago. The beginnings of burning fossil fuels to power machines in the 19th century initiated a change in the mix of atmospheric gases, and the first nuclear weapon test on July 16, 1945, spread unique isotopes across the globe. In March 2015, a paper published in Nature suggested either 1610 or 1964 could be the beginning of Anthropocene. Other scholars point to the diachronous character of the physical strata of the Anthropocene, arguing that onset and impact are spread out over time, not reducible to a single instant or date of start. In fact, arguing the early Anthropocene hypothesis, William Ruddiman claims that the Anthropocene, as defined by significant human impact on greenhouse gas emissions, began not in the industrial era, but 8,000 years ago, as ancient farmers cleared forests to grow crops. There is little doubt from the archaeological record that humans have been altering ecosystems on a local scale for at least 50,000 years if not longer, but the extent of that alteration remains unknown. The beginnings of burning fossil fuels to power machines in the 19th century initiated a change in the mix of atmospheric gases, and the first nuclear weapon test on July 16, 1945, spread unique isotopes across the globe. The word Anthropocene, unknown twenty years ago, now appears in the titles of three academic journals, dozens of books, and hundreds of academic papers, not to mention innumerable articles in newspapers, magazines, websites, and blogs. In his first articles on the Anthropocene, Paul Crutzen suggested that the new epoch may have begun at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when large-scale burning of coal launched a long-term rise in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Crutzen proposed the Industrial Revolution as the start of Anthropocene. Although it is apparent that the Industrial Revolution ushered in an unprecedented global human impact on the planet, much of Earth’s landscape already had been profoundly modified by human activities. In fact, arguing the early Anthropocene hypothesis, William Ruddiman claims that the Anthropocene, as defined by significant human impact on greenhouse gas emissions, began not in the industrial era, but 8,000 years ago, as ancient farmers cleared forests to grow crops. In January 2015, 26 of the 38 members of the International Anthropocene Working Group published a paper suggesting that the Trinity test on July 16, 1945, was the starting point of the proposed new epoch. However a significant minority supports one of several alternative dates. In fact, arguing the early Anthropocene hypothesis, William Ruddiman claims that the Anthropocene, as defined by significant human impact on greenhouse gas emissions, began not in the industrial era, but 8,000 years ago, as ancient farmers cleared forests to grow crops.
http://phys.org/news/2015-01-anthropocene-nuclear-age.html http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618214009136 http://anthropocene.name/course-schedule/theme-2/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618214009136 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/anthropocent-debate-human-dominance-earth_n_4403938.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/anthropocent-debate-human-dominance-earth_n_4403938.html http://monthlyreview.org/2015/09/01/when-did-the-anthropocene-beginand-why-does-it-matter/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene
when did the anthropocene begin