I would vote to add the Anthropocene epoch to the geologic time scale. From previous Earth Science/Geology classes, I have learned about stratigraphy and how geologic periods are described. One thing that I remember that is important for distinguishing time periods is that there was a major change in composition. This change is usually attributed to composition of the atmosphere or rock content. Another major indicator is the change in the fossil record, such as the major change between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. I agree with Steffen and Malm that fire is the leading reason behind the Anthropocene because humans love fire and have used it to change their environment drastically (Malm, p.1-2, Steffen, p. 614). Fire then leads to the burning of fossil fuels which releases carbon that will eventually be deposited and build up in the ground (Kolbert, p. 3).
When peoples’ views are based on what their culture believes, it will affect humanity’s progress on combating climate change. If people do not believe it, they do not want to change their current livelihood. They become “oblivious” to the fact that current fuel usage has led to a change in environment and climate that is not normal. Whitlock and her group suggested that if you have a community talk together about the situation and what has been happening, the more likely the community will change as a whole. If we build off of this idea and work with various communities that have been or will be impacted by climate change, humans may be able to save themselves and the environment, and limit climate change.
In my blog I also agreed. I however don’t have the background as you do in Earth science classes and found it interesting that there are only three major indicators of a new time. It does make sense though, there has been quite a few mass extinctions and most of them were due to a drastic change in atmosphere that either made the air difficult to live with or a blocking of the sun due to dust and sand in the atmosphere. Whitlock spoke about changing a community and though I do agree with her somewhat, I disagree that people need communities to be confident with their choices/decisions. The flat Earth group started off small and spread out “across the globe”. These people didn’t rely on a community of people around them to decide. They did their own research and concluded their research by themselves.