科學家們開始研究人類帶來的影響

科學家們開始研究人類帶來的影響

Though it's clear we're currently living in it, scientists have long debated when the Anthropocene, the epoch of human dominance over the planet, first began.

雖然很明顯我們現(xiàn)在生活在地球上，但科學家們一直在爭論人類世是何時開始的，即人類統(tǒng)治地球的時代。

The Anthropocene Era refers to the period of time humans have had a measurable global impact on Earth's ecosystems.

人類世指的是人類對地球生態(tài)系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生了可測量的全球性影響的時期。

Did it start with the advent of agriculture around 10,000 years ago? With the Industrial Revolution? With the first explosions of nuclear weapons in the 1940s?

它始于一萬年前農業(yè)的出現(xiàn)嗎?還是工業(yè)革命?又或是20世紀40年代第一次核武器爆炸?

The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), a panel of scientists, recently voted to official recognize the epoch and suggested starting it in the middle of the 20th century, according to Nature.

據(jù)《自然》雜志報道，由科學家組成的人類世工作組(AWG)最近投票決定正式承認這一紀元，并建議從20世紀中葉開始。

They are now working to determine a "golden spike," or a feature that best describes its start. It may be hydrogen bomb tests in the 1950s, for example, or the increase of industrial production and the widespread use of agricultural chemicals.

他們現(xiàn)在正在努力確定一個“節(jié)點”，或者一個最能描述它開始的特性。例如，可能是20世紀50年代的氫彈試驗，或者是工業(yè)生產(chǎn)的增加和農業(yè)化學品的廣泛使用。

“The Anthropocene works as a geological unit of time, process and strata,” says Jan Zalasiewicz, chair of the AWG and a geologist at the University of Leicester, U.K.. Zalasiewicz wasn’t sure of that conclusion when the AWG began its work a decade ago. But the current vote shows that the group has mostly reached agreement on the idea of the geological unit.

“人類世是時間、過程和地層的地質單位。”AWG主席、英國萊斯特大學的地質學家Jan Zalasiewicz說。十年前，當AWG開始工作時，Zalasiewicz并不確定這個結論。但目前的投票結果顯示，該小組基本上就地質單元的想法達成了一致。

At one point, 2015 data suggested the Anthropocene Era may have actually started in the year 1610.

2015年的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，人類世實際上可能始于1610年。

What happened in 1610 that made it such a tipping point for humanity's impact on Earth? According to Simon Lewis, an ecologist at University College London, and geologist Mark Maslin of Leeds University, a golden spike can be seen in the global geological record in this year which can be directly attributed to humans, reports the Independent.

1610年發(fā)生了什么，使得它成為人類對地球影響的轉折點?據(jù)英國《獨立報》報道，倫敦大學學院的生態(tài)學家西蒙·劉易斯和利茲大學的地質學家馬克·馬斯林表示，這一年全球地質記錄中出現(xiàn)的一個金色尖峰可以直接歸因于人類。

Two global signatures appear in 1610: Pollen from imported New World crops begins to appear in Europe, and a massive dip in carbon dioxide levels can be seen in Antarctic ice cores dating to that time. Both of these events are a direct result of increased trade and transport of animals and plants across the Atlantic Ocean — a barrier that had previously kept the New and Old Worlds separated for millions of years.

1610年出現(xiàn)了兩個全球特征:來自新大陸進口作物的花粉開始出現(xiàn)在歐洲，可以看到在那個時候南極冰芯的二氧化碳水平大幅下降。這兩件事都是大西洋兩岸動植物貿易和運輸增加的直接結果，而大西洋是過去幾百萬年來把新舊世界分隔開的一道屏障。

In the case of the global dip in carbon dioxide, Lewis and Maslin believe this to be the result of the deaths of millions of indigenous people in the aftermath of European colonization. As many as 50 million Native Americans died in the aftermath of European expansion into the New World, mostly as a result of infectious diseases such as smallpox. As their numbers dwindled, the resultant loss in agriculture allowed forests to re-grow throughout the Americas. These expanded forests scrubbed the atmosphere of carbon dioxide.

在全球二氧化碳排放量下降的情況下，劉易斯和馬斯林認為，這是歐洲殖民之后數(shù)百萬土著人死亡的結果。在歐洲向新大陸擴張的過程中，多達5000萬印第安人死于諸如天花之類的傳染病。人類數(shù)量的減少造成了農業(yè)的損失，這使得整個美洲的森林得以重新生長，這些擴張的森林緩解了大氣中的二氧化碳。

"In a hundred thousand years, scientists will look at the environmental record and know something remarkable happened in the second half of the second millennium," said Lewis. "They will be in no doubt that these global changes to Earth were caused by their own species. The anthropocene probably began when species jumped continents, starting when the old world met the new."

劉易斯說：“數(shù)萬年后，科學家們將研究環(huán)境記錄，并知道在第二個千年的下半葉發(fā)生了一些不同尋常的事情。毫無疑問，這些對地球的全球性變化是由它們自己的物種造成的。人類世很可能是從物種跨越大陸開始的，從舊世界和新世界相遇開始的。”

Lewis and Maslin contend that this is the first time that human actions had a truly global impact. The bridging of the Old and New Worlds fundamentally changed the entire biosphere of the planet. This was not just a regional impact; its ecological footprint stretched around the world.

劉易斯和馬斯林認為，這是人類行為第一次真正產(chǎn)生全球性影響。新舊世界的連接從根本上改變了地球的整個生物圈。這不僅僅是區(qū)域性的影響;它的生態(tài)足跡遍布世界各地。

"We humans are now a geological power in our own right, as earth-changing as a meteorite strike. Historically, the collision of the old and new worlds marks the beginning of the modern world," Lewis added.

“我們人類現(xiàn)在憑借自己的力量成為一股地質力量，就像隕石撞擊地球一樣改變著地球。從歷史上看，新舊世界的碰撞標志著現(xiàn)代世界的開始。”劉易斯說。