The Long and the Short of It - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 329

12 The Long and the Short of It:
Has the Arctic Messenger Been Noticed? What Can Be Done?
Life is a strange thing indeed
-just when you are getting the hang of it,
a gibbet marks the skyline.
Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, “Too Late” from Footsteps From Another World
When it is obvious that your goals cannot be reached, do not adjust the goals.
Adjust the action steps.
Confucius, The Analects
Earth scientists use the geological time scale to describe the passage of time in Earth's his-
tory. The scale consists of a hierarchy of units, each of which is characterized by a combina-
tion of different conditions that prevailed at the time of that unit. In the 1980s, ecologist Eu-
gene F. Stoermer proposed the term “anthropocene” to describe the stage in which we now
live. The rationale is that humankind is responsible for major and fundamental long-lasting
geophysical changes in the atmosphere and oceans. They are at the same level of magnitude
as changes that mark the boundaries between many past geological periods. Our impact on
the global ecosystem will be the dominating feature that geologists thousands or millions
of years into the future will use to describe the present time. The idea gained momentum
with support in 2000 from Dutch Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen (who we met earlier in
the chapter on stratospheric ozone depletion). This proposed designation is now being ex-
amined to see if it should be formally embraced in the geological time scale. A decision is
planned for 2016. The idea that the term anthropocene has even been suggested as a geolo-
gical epoch makes me pause. What are we doing to our planet?