A humble lake in a Canadian suburb may soon become the symbolic starting point for a radical new chapter in Earth’s official history: the Anthropocene, or the age of humans.

A group of scientists said Tuesday the best evidence for humanity’s overwhelming impact on the planet could be found at Crawford Lake in Milton, Ontario. The lake’s finely layered sediments contain a thousand-year record of environmental history, culminating in an explosion of man-made disruption around the middle of the 20th century. That’s when scientists say human activities – from nuclear weapons tests and fossil fuel combustion to deforestation and global trade – began to leave an indelible imprint on Earth’s geologic record.

The announcement marks a crucial step in a years-long effort to determine whether people have altered the planet enough to launch a new epoch in geologic time. Since 2009, an obscure scientific body called the Anthropocene Working Group has accumulated evidence that Earth’s chemistry Read More