人类世争论：人类是否应该拥有属于自己的地质时代？

伤我心太深

随着气候的变化以及土壤沙漠化，人类从根本上改变了地球的表面。但是，我们真的迎来了一个新的地质时代，所谓的“人类世”吗？

Paul Crutzen, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, finds it hard to believe. "It's incredible to see what a single word changes," he says. Crutzen coined the word "Anthropocene," Greek for the "recent age of man," 12 years ago at a scientific conference in Mexico. He used the term as a way of describing radical change in nature, saying that man's influence on the environment was now so overwhelming that a new epoch -- the "Anthropocene" -- had begun.

诺贝尔化学奖获得者保罗·克鲁岑表示这真是令人难以置信。他说，“观察一个词语的变化是多么的不可思议。”12年前，在墨西哥的一个学术会议上，克鲁岑创造了“人类世”这个词，源自希腊语，表示“近代人类的纪元”。他通过描述大自然发生的根本性变化，讲述人类给环境带来的巨大影响，从而促使了一个新的纪元的开始，这就是“人类世”。

For some geologists, the proposal has been nothing less than revolutionary, and an unwelcome challenge. Indeed, it has unleashed a heated debate that has now spilled over from the scientific world into the public realm. Newspapers and magazines are proclaiming the advent of the "age of man" on their cover pages, artists are invoking the Anthropocene and even German governmental advisers have adopted the term.

对于一些地质学家来说，这个提议更像是一场革命，一个不受欢迎的挑衅。事实上，这已经引发了一场激烈的辩论，从科学界一直蔓延到公众领域。一些报纸和杂志在封面上宣称着“人类的时代”的来临。艺术家们开始援引人类世，甚至德国政府顾问也已经采纳使用这个词。

Indeed, there are many who are enthusiastic about the defining of a human epoch. As an editorial from late February in the New York Times put it, the "true meaning of the Anthropocene is that we have affected nearly every aspect of our environment -- from a warming atmosphere to the bottom of an acidifying ocean." According to the British news magazine The Economist, humans "have become a force of nature reshaping the planet on a geological scale." Indeed, a recent edition of the magazine bore the title "Welcome to the Anthropocene" on its cover page above a picture of a globe being constructed by humans from within.

事实上，有许多人热衷于人类时代的划定。正如二月下旬的《纽约时报》社论说的那样，“人类世的真正含义是，从大气变暖到酸化的海底，我们已经影响到环境的方方面面。”根据英国的新闻杂志《经济学家》报道，从地质规模来说，人类已经成为自然改造地球的重要力量。的确，该杂志最新一期标题为 “欢迎来到人类世”的封面上正是一张地球被人类从内部破坏的图片。

Still, there is strong opposition to the proposal among the geologists who have final say over whether a new geological epoch is officially proclaimed, and the issue has ignited a heated debate in their ranks.

然而，在那些能够最终决定是否正式宣布一个新的地质时代来临的地质学家中，仍有许多人反对这一提议。这个问题在他们当中已经引发了激烈的讨论。

The 'Golden Spike'

“金穗”

The earth's official calendar is kept by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), the world's principal authority on stratigraphy, the study of Earth's history through the analysis of rock layers and layering. The ICS uses sediment data to determine whether a new epoch has begun. Since the boundaries between geological epochs mark radical turning points in the planet's history, each period must be clearly discernable on the basis of a stratum -- or "boundary layer" -- that remains uniform across the globe.

地球的官方日历由国际地层委员会（ICS）保管，ICS是世界地层学最重要的权威机构，他们通过对岩层和分层的分析研究地球的历史。ICS利用沉淀物的数据来判断一个新的纪元是否开始。由于地质时代的分界线标志着这个星球历史上重大的转折点，在一个地层，或者说“边界层”的基础上，必须确定全球范围内每一个时期都有迹可循。

It is precisely this piece of evidence pointing to the existence of the Anthropocene that geologists are trying to locate. "We are searching for the 'golden spike,' so to speak, " says geologist Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester -- in other words, a stratum that clearly demonstrates man's global influence on the planet.

正因如此，地质学家们试图找出证据来证明人类世的存在。莱斯特大学的地质学家简·扎拉斯维奇说，“可以这么说，我们正在寻找‘金穗’。”也就是能清楚地证明人类对地球的全球性影响的地层。

At a recent meeting of the Geological Society of London, scientists compiled a large number of indicators that make the "age of man" seem plausible：

在最近的伦敦地质学会会议上，科学家们收集了大量的证据使“人类的时代”变得可信：

Erle Ellis, a geographer at the University of Maryland, explained that humans have already reshaped more than three-quarters of the Earth's surface. Only 23 percent is still wilderness, and only 11 percent of photosynthesis on land happens in wilderness areas, Ellis said. The rest consists of farmland, settlements and industrial areas.

马里兰大学的地理学家厄尔·艾里斯解释说，人类已经改造了地球表面约四分之三的地区。如今只有23%仍然是荒原，而地球上的光合作用有11%发生在这里，艾里斯说。其余则发生在农场、居住区和工业区。

Australian climatologist Will Steffens argued that climate change caused by human activity will fundamentally alter the air, land and oceans for tens of thousands of years. In his view, this also entails the long-term acidification of the oceans by carbon dioxide, which will have a lasting impact on rock formation on the ocean floor.

澳大利亚气候学家威尔·斯蒂芬斯辩称，由人类活动引起的气候变化将完全地改变数万年的空气、土壤和海洋。他看来，这还包括二氧化碳对海洋的长期酸化作用，这对海底的岩层将有一个持久的影响。

American geologist James Syvitski of the University of Colorado at Boulder spoke of how dams, mining, erosion and urban development have already changed soils in fundamental ways. For example, he discussed how having huge amounts of sediment build up behind dams has resulted in a lack of sediment in coastal areas.

来自科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的美国地质学家詹姆斯·苏维斯基谈到，水坝、开矿、水土流失和城市的发展是如何从根本上改变了土壤。例如，他讨论了水坝背后堆积的大量泥沙如何导致了沿海地区泥沙的匮乏。

Massive biological changes are also taking place. Although man contributes to the extinction of species by cutting down rainforests, he simultaneously creates new life forms through cultivation and biotechnology -- including, most recently, artificial chromosomes. In addition, trade, transportation and agriculture are spreading organisms, that previously only existed in niche environments, around the world. "Future geologists will also see this in fossils left over from our age," Zalasiewicz says.

大规模的生物变种也在发生。虽然人类因砍伐树林而导致许多物种的灭绝，但同时，通过文明和生物技术也创造了新的生命形式，包括最近的人工染色体。此外，贸易、交通和农业也在世界各地传播着有机体，以前这只发生在生态位环境中。“未来的地质学家们将会看到我们这个时代留下来的化石。” 扎拉斯维奇说道。

Zalasiewicz heads the Anthropocene Working Group, which the ICS has commissioned to examine whether the changes attributed to human activity satisfy the criteria for formalizing a new geological epoch. "We have to be able to demonstrate convincingly that global environmental changes are sufficiently profound to leave behind clearly discernable signals in soil layers forming today and in the future," Zalasiewicz says.

扎拉斯维奇领导的人类世工作小组受ICS的委托考查，由人类活动引起的变化是否满足正式开创一个新的地质时代的标准。“我们必须令人相信，全球环境的变化足够深刻，能够在当前或未来在土壤层留下清晰可辨的记号，”扎拉斯维奇表示。

'Not Familiar with the Rules'

‘不熟悉规则’

However, since their profession primarily deals with the past, many geologists have little use for statements about the future. According to Stanley Finney, a geology professor at California State University in Long Beach and chairman of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), it is wrong to define a geological epoch on the basis of mere predictions. The ICS has the last word when it comes to decisions on geological periods.

然而，由于地质学家的职业主要涉及过去，许多地质学家从未考虑过未来的事情。斯坦利·芬尼，美国长滩的加州州立大学地质学教授、国际地层委员会（ICS）主席，他认为，仅仅根据预测来定义一个地质时代是错误的。在涉及到地质时期的决定时，ICS有着最终决定权。

Other geologists put it even more succinctly. "From a scientific perspective, the introduction of the Anthropocene into the Geologic Time Scale would create more problems than benefits," says Manfred Menning of the German Stratigraphic Commission (DSK). Menning notes that it would force geologists to re-examine their criteria for defining geological eras.

其他的地质学家更为直接地提出他们的想法。德国地层委员会（DSK）的曼弗雷德·门宁表示，“从科学的角度来看，将人类世引入地质年代表会带来更多的问题而不是好处。”他认为，这会迫使地质学家们重新审视他们定义地质时代的标准。

"The prospects for the introduction of the Anthropocene are unrealistic," says his colleague Stefan Wansa, chairman of the DSK's Quaternary Subcommittee, which focuses on the most recent period in geological history. "The proponents of the Anthropocene must confront the charge that they are not sufficiently familiar with the rules of stratigraphy," Wansa adds.

“引入人类世是不切实际的，”门宁的同事，史蒂芬·万沙说。他是DSK第四纪委员会小组的主席，该小组侧重于地质史上最近的一段时期的研究。“人类世的支持者们将会面临指控，他们对地层学的规则还不够了解。”万沙补充道。

Traces Everywhere

痕迹无处不在

Finney also doesn't believe that the crucial geological layer can be found. He argues that human activity has not been reflected in the simultaneous formation of sediments worldwide. Likewise, he points out that some areas, such as the Americas, were cultivated later than places like China and the Middle East.

芬尼并不认为会发现关键性的地质层。他表示，在全球范围内，人类活动尚未在同时形成的沉积物上有所反映。同样，他指出，一些地区如美国，他们的种植时间晚于中国和中东等地。

Still, there are also geologists who are convinced that the Anthropocene could be justified under the existing rules of the discipline. The Geological Society of America (GSA), for example, apparently has no compunction about labeling its annual meeting in October "Archean to Anthropocene."

尽管如此，仍有一些地质学家相信，根据本学科现有的规则，人类世的存在是合理的。正如美国地质学会（GSA）对于定在十月的年度会议“太古代人类世”毫无异义。

One of these supporters is Susan Trumbore, a geologist who directs the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in the eastern German city of Jena. "The Anthropocene is an obvious reality," Trumbore says. "Mankind is leaving traces almost everywhere."

支持者之一的地质学家苏珊·特鲁波尔，她指挥着位于德国东部城市耶拿的马克斯普朗克地质化学研究所。“显而易见，人类世的存在是一个现实，”特鲁波尔说。“人类留下的痕迹无处不在。”

What's more, according to Zalasiewicz, a few years ago, 21 of 22 scientists on the Stratigraphy Commission of the Geological Society of London said that the idea of formalizing the Anthropocene epoch merited further examination. "The society is a cross-section of stratigraphers chosen for technical expertise, not environmental radicalism" he stressed in a May interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE .

更重要的是，根据扎拉斯维奇的说法，几年以前，在22位伦敦地质学会地层委员会的科学家中有21位认为，划分人类世的想法值得进一步研究。“本会反映的是地层学家技术专业代表性的一面，而不是环境激进主义。”他在5月接受明镜在线的采访中强调。

Part 2: In Search of the Elusive Boundary Layer

第二部分：寻找难以捉摸的边界层

The first proposals for describing the boundary layer marking the beginning of the Anthropocene are already being discussed. The rise in the level of greenhouse gases, which can be demonstrated on the basis of air bubbles trapped in glaciers, has been proposed as evidence of the beginning of the "age of man." The problem is that since the increase in the gas content did not occur abruptly, there is no clearly discernible boundary layer.

描述边界层的最初的提议标志着人类世的争论的开始。被冰川锁住的空气气泡可以证明温室气体排放水平的上升，这已被作为“人类时代”开始的证据。问题是，气体含量的增加不是突然出现的，因此没有清晰可辨的边界层。

Zalasiewicz notes that the current favorites are strata from roughly 1800, during the Industrial Revolution, and from around 1945, when the first atomic weapons were tested. Both events can be recognized in sediments worldwide in the form of exhaust gas particles and radioactive fallout, respectively.

扎拉斯维奇指出，当前认为的最有可能的地层一个大约从1800年开始，经历了工业革命，另一个从1945年左右开始，当时人们对第一颗原子能武器进行测试。这两个事件可以在全球沉积物中以废气微粒和放射性沉降物的形式分别予以确认。

Zalasiewicz concedes that a determination would first have to be made on whether these deposits satisfy the criteria of stratigraphers. For example, the layers containing radioactive particles apparently arrived late in the game because supporters of the Anthropocene theory believe that the period had already begun by the time the first atom bombs were exploded. And, at this point, traces of industrialization can only be found in sediments in Europe.

扎拉斯维奇承认，首先必须对这些沉淀物是否满足地层学家的标准进行裁定。举例来说，因为人类世论的支持者们认为在第一颗原子弹爆炸之前，人类世就已经开始了，含有放射性例子的地层显然在这场比赛中成为了后来者。而在这一点上，工业化的痕迹只在欧洲的沉积物中找到。

Indeed, determining how to establish a sharp, worldwide boundary is "not clear at present and may never be unambiguously established," says Philip Gibbard, an expert on the Quaternary epoch, the period which began some 2.6 million years ago and extends to the present, at the University of Cambridge.

事实上，决定如何建立一个鲜明的、世界性的边界是“目前尚不清楚，也可能永远不会明确的，”菲利普·吉伯德说。他是剑桥大学研究地质第四纪的专家，第四纪从260万年前开始一直延伸至现在。

A Matter for History Rather than Geology

这是一个历史问题，而不是地质问题

Margot Böse, a geologist at Berlin's Free University, also rejects the idea of the sudden onset of a new epoch. The soil contains evidence of the influence of man since the Stone Age, Böse explains, and this age has already been treated as an independent geological era for a long time.

柏林自由大学的地质学家玛格特·波瑟也反对这个突如其来建立一个新时代的想法。土壤中含有着石器时代的人影响的证据，波瑟解释说，这一个时期作为一个独立的地质时代来说已经有很长一段时间了。

The ICS's Brian Pitt adds that since the Holocene epoch -- a part of the Quaternary Period stretching back roughly 12,000 years -- already recognizes the influence of man, no additional designation is needed.

来自ICS的布莱尔·皮特补充，自全新世开始---第四纪时期追溯到大约12,000年前的一部分---已经认识到人类的影响，无需额外的名称。

Still, the scientific journal Nature does not believe that such designations have to be set in stone. In an editorial published in May, the respected publication argued that the Holocene could simply be renamed the Anthropocene. Doing so would eliminate the need to find a boundary layer, it continued, because the Holocene has already been defined scientifically.

科学杂志《自然》也不相信这些名称已经印刻在石头中。在五月发表的社论中，这份权威刊物认为这仅仅是将全新世更名为人类世而已。它还补充，这样则不必刻意去寻找边界层，因为全新世已有了科学的定义。

Even critics like Finney concede that the new concept of the Anthropocene is "useful." Nevertheless, he believes that it is really a subject for historians rather than geologists. As he explains, the Geologic Time Scale is largely based on the stratigraphic record. But he doesn't see any significance evidence in the geological record on which to base this new epoch; instead, he sees it in the "voluminous" and "more-or-less continuous" human records of the last 200 years. For this reason, he posits that it would be "more appropriate" to view the Anthropocene as an epoch of human rather than geological history.

即使批评者如芬尼，也不得不承认人类世的新概念是“有益的”。不过，他认为这绝对是一个历史学家而不是地质学家的课题。他解释说，地质时间尺度很大程度上基于对地层的记录。然而，他没有在这个新时代的地质记录中看到任何有意义的证据。相反，他看到了近200年来的“大量的”“或多或少连续的”人类的记录。出于这个原因，他断定，将人类世看成是人类的一个时代比作为一个地质历史时期更为合适。

A New 'Era of Responsibility'

全新的责任时代

The impact of the term Anthropocene has already been felt outside the scientific community. In fact, many people concerned with the interaction between man and the environment are now using the term as if it had already been officially recognized. They find the concept helpful because it brings together a wide range of phenomena that are normally discussed separately; it represents the sum of all man-made environmental changes, both positive and negative.

人类世的影响已经波及到了科学界以外的领域。事实上，许多关心人与环境相互作用的人们正在使用这一个词，好像它已被正式承认一样。他们发现，这个概念是有好处的，因为它汇集了一系列的事件，而这些事件过去通常是单独讨论的；它代表了正反两方面一切人为环境变化的总和。

Zalasiewicz and his colleagues believe that adopting the concept of the Anthropocene could do away with the old antithesis between man and nature. As they see it, in the future, we would have to concede that man shapes nature.

扎拉斯维奇和他的同事相信通过接受人类世的概念可以消除人与自然之间古老的对立关系。在他们看来，未来我们将不得不接受人类的自然形态。

Nature sees the relatively new concept as presenting an opportunity to improve the role of human beings on Earth. Adopting it, the journal writes, "would encourage a mindset that will be important not only to fully understand the transformation now occurring but to take action to control it."

《自然》认为这个相对较新的概念推有助于人类在地球上地位的上升。该杂志写道，接受这个概念“会激发一种心态，这对充分了解当前的转变、并采取行动控制来说都是十分重要的。

The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) begins its most recent report with Crutzen's idea, noting that the concept of the Anthropocene describes "not only the impact brought about by humans on the Earth system, but also the cognitive shift in global civilization, which is becoming increasingly aware of its importance as a shaping force."

德国全球变化咨询委员会（WBGU）在最近的报告中采用克鲁岑的想法，指出人类世的概念不仅描绘了人类对地球系统带来的影响，还讲述全球文明的认知的转变，作为改造的力量，越来越多的人意识到自身的重要性。

Indeed, according to the WBGU, we are entering an "era of responsibility."

实际上，根据WBGU的说法，我们正迈入一个“责任的时代“