I think that adding the Anthropocene as an official geologic era is a sound idea. Therefore, I would vote “yes” on making it official. I believe the trend should start when humans began driving species to extinction, the earliest example coming from the extinction of giant animals in Australia. Stratigraphers often use mass extinctions to denote where one era ends and where another begins (Kolbert, 1.) We humans are accustomed to using nature as our “unlimited” dumping grounds, and future (or alien) geologists will note the high amount of decayed synthetics, and environmental damage. (Malm, 2.) In the future, the climate will be warmer and contain more carbon dioxide than the past several million years. Future generations of humans, or some intelligent aliens, would attribute the warmth to extensive combustion of wood and fossil fuels.
The want to fit in with one’s peers is clearly identified in today’s polarized politics. Those who appear to belong to one side, then interact in a friendly manner with the other side, are accused of being traitors, with the worst insults beings racial slurs or attacks on their past. People polarized in their beliefs are unable to agree with the other side on anything, hindering any advances in policy. Dr Whitlock attempts to ask questions about how hot it has become locally, in order for people to relate to her points better. The only solution I see to solve differences is for climate change believers to realize that their proposals will cost thousands of people their livelihoods, and empathize with them. We won’t convince climate change deniers to give up fossil fuels, but to convince them that we’re running out and should look for alternate energy sources.