The Anthropocene ( AN-thrə-pə-seen, an-THROP-ə-) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology, landscape, limnology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. The nature of the effects of human activities on Earth can be seen for example in biodiversity loss, climate change, biogeography and nocturnality parameters, changes in geomorphology and stratigraphy (sedimentological record, fossil record, trace elements). Various start dates for the Anthropocene have been proposed, ranging from the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution 12,000–15,000 years ago, to as recently as the 1960s. The ratification process is still ongoing, and thus a date remains to be definitively decided on. In May 2019, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) voted in favour of submitting a formal proposal to the ICS by 2021, locating potential stratigraphic markers to the mid-20th century of the common era. This time period coincides with the start of the Great Acceleration, a post-WWII time period during which global population growth, socioeconomic activities, land developments, pollutions and exploitation of natural resources have all increased at a dramatic rate, and the Atomic Age, when the risks of nuclear wars, arm races, trafficking/terrorism and accidents have become a concerning reality. Although the biologist Eugene F. Stoermer is often credited with coining the term anthropocene, it was in informal use in the mid-1970s. Paul J. Crutzen is credited with independently re-inventing and popularising it.As of July 2022, neither the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) nor the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has officially approved the term as a recognised subdivision of geologic time, although the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the ICS voted in April 2016 to proceed towards a formal golden spike (GSSP) proposal to define the Anthropocene epoch in the geologic time scale (GTS) and presented the recommendation to the International Geological Congress in August 2016. Source: Wikipedia (en)