4 ms·
Instead of anthropocene we might be better to call the current era the plastocene.
by erentz 7y ago
Instead of anthropocene we might be better to call the current era the plastocene.
- bdamm 7y agoWith some previously non-existent radioactive elements mixed in for good measure. This layer of plastic, radioactivity, and airliner exhaust will be forever buried in the geologic record at every point on the earth. What fun!
- linuxftw 7y agoDo you think the geological record might indicate a type of 'evolution and migration' of plastics across the globe?
- rtkwe 7y agoNot sure it will because it's a very short time period that plastics have existed geologically speaking and the time periods found in rock/soil/ice are generally pretty imprecise until we can relate them to something like tree rings that show precise year cycles where there's a large event like a fire that shows up in both the rock/soil layer and in trees. Generally without large anchoring events like that the best we get is very large time frames for events and mostly in relation to other events in the local area where you can measure forwards and backwards (up and down in the rock formation) relative to other events.
- growlist 7y ago> forever buried in the geologic record That's somewhat of a contradiction in terms, depending on your timescale!
- PopeDotNinja 7y agoMy friend once joked that some future civilization will discover plastic and think it's a natural resource.
- BrandonMarc 7y agoIf fossil fuels are the detritus of extinct plants, then plastic is just as "natural" as coal and oil ... in either case, it's a waste/byproduct of a life form/ecosystem that no longer exists.