For 15 years, researchers with the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) have argued that the epoch of human-driven changes to the Earth's geology began more than a half-century ago with the advent of the atomic bomb. Last week, that debate ended with a ruling from the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) that rejected calls to declare the official arrival of the Anthropocene and the end of the Holocene epoch that has defined the planet's past 11,700 years.
Abstract as the debate over the naming of our current geologic epoch may seem, some concrete implications come with designating a new era. It would "shape terminology in textbooks" and "guide scientists in their understanding of our still-unfolding present for generations to come,” said The New York Times.
While some scientists have argued that the Anthropocene should be an epoch akin to the Holocene, others have classified it as an event like a "mass extinction," the BBC said. Moreover, while the AWC pegged the mid-20th century as the official start, some experts suggested other potential starting points, like environmental fallout from the Industrial Revolution.
The AWC's proposed Anthropocene timeline is "no more than 75 years," University of Wales Earth Sciences Professor Mike Walker said to New Scientist. That short time frame does not "fit comfortably into the geological time scale."
Still, the vote to reject this classification has "no bearing on the overwhelming evidence" that our species is "transforming this planet,” said Erle Ellis, a professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland. | 
