anthropocene

is a period beginning between 1570 1620 with the death of 50 million indigenous people triggered by the arrival of europeans which led to forests taking over 65 million hectares of abandoned agricultural fields, reducing global co2.

This week in Nature, two researchers propose that a potential marker for the start of the Anthropocene could be a noticeable drop in atmospheric CO2 concentrations between 1570 and 1620, which is recorded in ice cores (see page 171). They link this change to the deaths of some 50 million indigenous people in the Americas, triggered by the arrival of Europeans. In the aftermath, forests took over 65 million hectares of abandoned agricultural fields a surge of regrowth that reduced global CO2.'

Simon L. LewisThinkers

Simon L. Lewis