Scientists now say a new epoch – the Anthropocene, marked by human impact on Earth – began in 1950s

A team of scientists is recommending to mark the start of a new geological epoch defined by how humans have impacted the Earth with a ‘golden spike’ in the pristine Crawford Lake outside Toronto in Canada. They say the start of the human epoch — known as the Anthropocene — is sometime between 1950 and 1954. The proposal still needs to be approved by three different groups of geologists and ultimately be approved at a giant conference next year. Geologists measure time in eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages.