Introduction

Mark Weaver

Schoolchildren are taught that we are still in the Holocene, the epoch in Earth's history that began roughly 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. But some scientists say that it's high time to enter the Anthropocene, or the Age of Man.

Last week, our colleague Andrew C. Revkin of Dot Earth reported on a conference at the Geological Society of London exploring the evidence for the Anthropocene, meaning that the human species has become a "globally potent biogeophysical force, capable of leaving a durable imprint in the geological record."

Are we really in our own geologic era? If we are, how does that change our view of the world?