Man's Massive Global Impact: A Look At The Anthropocene Epoch In National Geographic (PHOTOS)

National Geographic continues its yearlong coverage on global population with Elizabeth Kolbert's latest article in the March issue on the "Age of Man," which focuses on "the Anthropocene," a new name for a new geological epoch defined by humans' massive impact on the planet. As Kolbert's report states:

It's a new name for a new geologic epoch--one defined by our own massive impact on the planet. That mark will endure in the geologic record long after our cities have crumbled...Probably the most obvious way humans are altering the planet is by building cities, which are essentially vast stretches of man-made materials--steel, glass, concrete, and brick. But it turns out most cities are not good candidates for long-term preservation, for the simple reason that they're built on land, and on land the forces of erosion tend to win out over those of sedimentation.

Read the full article by Elizabeth Kolbert in the March 2011 issue of National Geographic, available on newsstands now.

View the amazing full gallery here.

View a small sample of images from the gallery below. All photos and captions are shown courtesy of National Geographic.

Comments

[Friendly]

07:55 PM on 03/06/2011

Drill, Baby, Drill!

[GirlFriday123]

02:40 PM on 03/04/2011

raping Appalachia and only get 6% of the deposits?

is this really the best way?

[Aleks Hunter]

02:04 PM on 03/06/2011

crank up google earth and look at NE W. Va. all those gray areas , zoom in on them. Go ahead, have a nose around and see what this mountain scalping looks like.

[muck-raker]

07:52 PM on 03/06/2011

http://washingtonindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mountaintop-nrdc.jpg

[Big Boo]

10:37 AM on 03/04/2011

this looks all sciencey, me teabag republican no like science.

[Brown Buddha]

10:05 AM on 03/04/2011

It doesn't matter whether you believe in evolution or creationism, humans have been the worst thing for our planet.

[rich3324]

09:55 AM on 03/04/2011

Would of been nice if the photos loaded.

[JordeeVee]

08:43 AM on 03/04/2011

The coal mining one is fantastic... in a visual sense.

*HuffPost - For a website that promotes discussion, you guys need to reform this commenting system. Add an edit or at least a delete feature.

[JordeeVee]

08:42 AM on 03/04/2011

The coal mining was in fantastic... in a visual sense.

[Statusnaturae]

08:21 AM on 03/04/2011

The Mexico city picture is insane.

[Permafrost]

10:26 AM on 03/04/2011

Mexico city??? couldn't see that one .....

[Statusnaturae]

10:48 AM on 03/04/2011

You have to go to the national geographic website, Its an incredible picture and it gives you an idea as to how truly massive Mexico city is.

[Roadrun]

10:19 AM on 03/06/2011

Many years ago, maybe 10 or more, they published a picture of all of Mexico City from a mountain top and it was as dramatic in ways but lacked the demonstration of the hopelessness of overpopulation that this current one does. This whole series about the 7 billion would be an eye opener and game changer to an intelligent race.

[earto44]

06:50 AM on 03/04/2011

If I ever decided to have a dog own me, I would opt out for a fox or a coyote. That photo is amazing. Being I am owned by three cat's, it's never going to happen. They would not approve of a fox.

[Gebby]

06:47 AM on 03/04/2011

Solar energy would be a nice way to go. What do you think? Can we get more of it ?

[Core-Sample]

11:08 AM on 03/04/2011

We have plenty of Sun, and the good thing is that it's only getting larger ;)

But, until the world military machine runs off of solar, oil will still dominate us.

[sheila]

02:01 PM on 03/06/2011

US military is converting to solar, not only because of wars for oil, but mostly because of the inherent unreliability of a central-station-long-transmission infrastructure. it's so likely to be interrupted by weather, downed lines, fires, cyberhackers or (god forbid) terrorist attacks, that they don't want their wagon hitched to the dubious "star" that is our grid. Entire cities and installations could EASILY be knocked offline, so they are putting their own panels all over their bases.

Just one more reason why LOCAL, not central station solar is far superior!

[DharmaRecruit]

06:40 AM on 03/04/2011

HP: the slideshow format is improving, thank you. Some tweaks are still needed (the forward/back arrows need to stop vanishing before my eyes) but at least I see captions now.

[ARMANDO DE LA ROSA]

05:39 AM on 03/04/2011

OK, so all is doom and gloom. However the use of Kudzu to illustrate invasive species is mildly misleading. For 100+ years people in the South have been fighting this stuff to no avail and basically losing. Over the past decade they stumbled on a low tech solution: a goat can clear an acre of the stuff in less than a month and the kudzu in facts enriches the soil on which it grows upon. So from threat to mixed blessing.

[rylege]

05:19 AM on 03/04/2011

The only thing that really bothers me about this article is that it's all NEGATIVE! It does not show you all the victories that the Environmental movement has had. There are many species that have been taken off the endangered list, and I read recently on GNN that there are now more trees in north America than there was 100 years ago due to the re-planting initiatives. The sky is not falling and Humanity will eventually make it out of this ok. It just takes the great fighting efforts that have been expended over the many years.

[So-called-bob]

03:01 AM on 03/04/2011

Nice picture of the haze line. A person could travel almost everywhere and be able to take a picture of the haze line. Human footprint in the sky.

[Jim Pasterczyk]

02:37 AM on 03/04/2011

Talk about entitlements . . .