WEBVTT - Welcome to Earth’s new chapter 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:03.520 My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:08.520 Bunjelung Calcuttin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:10.800 that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.360 Gadigel people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.279 Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.079 first peoples of these countries, both past and present. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.120 Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. Happy Monday. 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.240 It's the twenty first of August. I'm Sam Kazlowski. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:32.280 I'm Zara Seidler. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.479 You may not have heard of Crawford Lake in Canada 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:39.519 because at first glance it's really just a sinkhole. But 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:41.560 for those in the know, and you're about to be 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.440 in the know, this little body of water holds the 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.080 key to understanding humanity's impact on the planet, from hydrogen 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.440 bomb tests to the use of fossil fuels. In today's 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.720 deep Dive, tda's deputy editor, Emma Gillespie is going to 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.360 share with us what secrets have been discovered so far 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.440 and what it all means for humanity. But first, here's 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:08.399 the headlines. Well, after over a month of magnificent football. 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.400 We have a new world champion. The final of the 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.680 fee for Women's World Cup was held in Sydney last 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:17.000 night and Spain beat England one nil to take out 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.240 their first ever Women's World Cup. There was a first 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:22.920 half goal to Spain and whilst England tried their very 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.360 best through a very edgy and extended overtime to try 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:28.880 and claw one back, sending the game into extra time, 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:34.080 they were unsuccessful. The Spaniards are deserved winners of the trophy. 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.800 In absolutely terrifying news, up to forty new species of 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.959 the wishbone spider have been discovered in Queensland. The Queensland 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.040 Museum says research has collected one hundred and thirty six 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.080 spider specimens across eastern Australia over the last six months. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.920 Wishbone spiders are burrowing spiders found in dry and tropical 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.639 regions of Australia. It's hoped the discoveries will help protect 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.080 the spiders into the future. 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.320 A new variant of COVID nineteen has now spread to 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:08.480 four countries, that's the UK, US, Israel and Denmark, with 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.880 the WHO classifying it as a variant under monitoring, which 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.600 means it will be tracked globally. Some scientists are concerned 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.280 with the level of mutation found in this particular strain. However, 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.240 they do not expect similar levels of disease and death 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:27.400 as with the alpha, delta or omicron variants. This variant 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.680 is nicknamed the pirilla variant and the good News. 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.720 The A League Women's competition has announced a special standalone 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.640 celebration to mark its opening round. The competition will start 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:41.959 a week before the men's and for the first time 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.440 in history, the women's season will last for twenty two games. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.240 The move is aimed at attracting more fans to A 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.720 League games. Following the Matilda success at the. 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:58.320 World Cup, scientists have found evidence that human activity has 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.640 fundamentally altered the Earth in such a significant way that 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:07.200 we might have actually entered a new geological period. It's 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.680 called the anthroposcene epoch. Oh my gosh. To make sense 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.040 of what that means and why we should care, I've 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.800 got someone new on the microphone for you, Emma Gillespie, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.520 Deputy editor at The Daily OS. Welcome to your pod debut. 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:22.720 Hello, Thank you for having me. 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:25.520 It's so fantastic to have you on to talk about 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:30.239 your specialty area geological periods. So for starters, what is 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:30.800 an epoch? 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.120 For starters? I just wanted on the record that I 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.680 am not a geologist. I just happen to be wanting 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.320 to share the news with you. So an epoch, Sam 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.880 is It's kind of hard to understand, but please stay 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.960 with me. The history of the Earth, right, it spans 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:52.480 four point five billion years, and modern humans i e. 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.720 Us only emerged as a species around two hundred thousand 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.920 years ago, so in this game of things, we actually 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.120 haven't really been here here for that long, but our 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.520 actions have already made a huge impact on the planet. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.560 So it's hard to comprehend what that means, what a 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.680 thousand years is, let alone what a billion years looks like. 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.599 But thankfully we have these clever people called geologists to 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.200 explain and unpack that for us. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:20.080 They're rock stars. 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:25.360 They are rock stars. Geologists are scientists to yep. They 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.200 study rocks, minerals, that kind of thing, and they work 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.279 to make sense of the billions of years of history 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.920 of the Earth. So to make sense of that enormous 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:38.000 amount of time, they divide the timeline of our history 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:43.920 into sections or epochs, So finding records embedded in the 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.839 Earth helps geologists pinpoint the beginning of new epochs, those 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:54.040 sections marked by major changes to the Earth's atmosphere, biology, 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.640 and geology. Now, that's all well and good, but in 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.320 everyday terms, eld to think of epochs like this. If 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:07.280 you imagine that we're all reduced to rubble, the buildings 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.640 around us, the world that we live in and as 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.240 we know it, are all just dust. 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:13.240 We're gone, Happy Monday. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:17.719 Happy Monday. In the future, what would explorers of Earth 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.960 discover about our way of life today? So without us here, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:29.640 geology actually offers a tangible representation of our actions, our life, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:31.080 the way that we lived. 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:33.320 I always get a little bit overwhelmed when we're talking 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.279 about this kind of you know, long term impact on 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:36.839 the planet. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.560 Existence is completely fair enough, it's overwhelming. 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.200 Why do scientists think that we've entered a new epoch? 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.000 But also more than that, why should I care that 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:47.120 we've entered a new epoch? 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.279 Yeah, it's a really good question. So it starts in Canada, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.039 this story where scientists claim that they've discovered evidence of 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.000 the beginning of what they refer to as the anthroposcene epoch, 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.239 the age of humans. And this is a big deal 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:07.360 because it means that we have had a physical impact 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.400 that's been so significant it's pushed the planet into this 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.400 new phase, rather than a new epoch being caused by 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.360 a natural phenomenon like an asteroid strike. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:20.240 So the Earth is. 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.599 Being rapidly transformed, especially by the impact of human caused 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:29.440 climate change. But now we have a definitive fingerprint of 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.920 that human impact on Earth's history in our geology, and. 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.640 I imagine that can't be undone that can't be wound back. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.400 We can't wind back the clock, but we can take 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.760 the knowledge from this discovery forward into understanding, you know, 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.640 how to care for the planet moving forward. But there's 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:50.000 actually some beef in the science community about this. Some 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.360 people say that we're still in the Holocene epoch that 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.919 began more than ten thousand years ago after the last 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.640 major ice age, But much of the science community believe 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.880 that we have been in this anthroposcene epoch for some 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.080 time now, And like I said, that is really significant 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.039 because it means that we've had such a dramatic physical 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.640 impact on the makeup of planet Earth that, unlike other 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.000 epochs that lasted you know, millions of years, we have 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:19.920 triggered a new one within a relatively short period of time. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.080 Right, So we've brought this one on prematurely, and then 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.640 I'm sure if we continue to behave in the way 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.080 that we are, the next one could come even sooner. 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.040 Exactly kind of the theory. So if I was a geologist, 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.239 how would I go about actually determining if we've moved 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:36.440 from one epoch to another. 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.600 So the idea that we have entered the anthropscene epoch 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:44.040 is pretty much thanks to a chunk of mud from 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.320 this lake in Canada. That's the reason why we're having 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.960 this conversation right now. So the Anthroposcene Working Group are 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:55.680 a collective of international scientists and UNI researchers, and they 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.480 recently claim to have discovered this evidence in a small 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.800 body of water called Crawford Lake west of Toronto in Canada. 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.600 This is a really really deep body of water, but 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.520 it's pretty tiny on the map. It's essentially a sinkhole. 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:14.200 But this is the site that's been considered ground zero 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:15.760 for this new epoch. 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.360 Is that for any particular reason. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:22.480 So a lake provides a really good opportunity to look 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.400 at the particles of our atmosphere because if you think 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.280 about the nature of a body of water. Particles sink 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:31.679 on the top of the lake and then they settle 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.600 at the bottom the lake floor, forming layers of sediment. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:39.520 So we're talking about solid material from somewhere else that 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.720 is floating around in the atmosphere, settles on a lake 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.160 and sinks to the lake floor. So sediment, which is 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.800 basically mud in this instance, and sediment's actually a really 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:55.280 helpful way for geologists to record changing environmental conditions over time. 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.280 I think it's like a beautiful rainbow cake. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.959 And every layer of the cake is a different indicator 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:08.280 of the geology in the sediment, environmental markers that show 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:10.800 us what was really present in the atmosphere at a 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:11.600 particular time. 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.439 So we've got this chocolate mud cake and it's got 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.800 different layers, What then, does that tell us about the 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.920 last few decades. Let's leave the ten thousand years even alone. 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.400 What is to tell us about the last forty fifty years? 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.839 So from this big chunk of mud cake, scientists were 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.520 able to document what they call a golden spike among 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.520 the layers of sediment. So what that means is a 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.880 dramatic and at least in geological terms, sudden change in 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:42.720 the conditions of the Earth. These layers contained various human 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:48.040 made materials such as microplastics, particles from fossil fuel burning, 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.000 and even plutonium from bomb testing in the fifties. 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.520 Wow, so there's evidence of that in the mud. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.600 Exactly, Yes, and that's from a time known as the 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:02.760 Great Acceleration when things really ramped up across fossil fuel combustion, 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.880 nitrates and pesticides from agriculture, nuclear testing, plastics production, all 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.760 that kind of thing. And the researchers argue that this 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.840 discovery pretty much definitively supports this notion of a new 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.800 epoch that has been floating around for a while, that 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:23.199 irreversible changes to the planet's ecosystem have been caused by 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:24.320 human activities. 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.560 So, going back to that scientific debate that you talked 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.040 about at the beginning, it does seem that this mudge 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.760 in a lake in Canada is giving the idea that 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.240 we're in a new epoch some more weight. What happens 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:37.680 from here. 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.520 So this group who found the sediment and the layers, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:46.160 they submit their discovery now to the International Union of 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:51.000 Geological Sciences. These guys are the scientific body responsible for 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.960 naming geological chapters. I tell you there's a scientific body 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.439 for everything and everyone, and they're the people that will 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:03.000 decide if we are officially in the anthroposcene epoch. 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.320 So what an incredible room to be in. You have 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:06.280 that meeting, What. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.800 A powerful room. It's up to them to literally officially 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.480 recognize that, Yep, it's happened, we're in the anthroposcene epog. 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.720 But what also comes from this SAM is this reinforcement 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:22.760 that human activity is impacting the world around us, and 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.079 it can help scientists forecast what that means for the future. So, 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:32.360 you know, we're constantly talking about these crises of biodiversity loss, 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:36.120 over population, climate change, and it can all sound like 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.000 doom and gloom. But what we have here is kind 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.679 of a reference point for scientists to understand the trajectory, 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.280 the path that we're on. And there is a school 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.400 of thought in science that you know, it's important to 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:54.079 acknowledge the mistakes of the past, where we've come from, 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.920 what's gone wrong, in order to kind of get back 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:01.880 on track to say, like we can return the Earth 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:06.280 maybe not to pristine condition, but epox before our arrival 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.600 lasted millions of years. There's no reason why we can't 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.559 go back to Epoch's lasting millions more, but we have 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.479 to come to a place where the science community agrees 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.440 where we're at. So it's expected that we'll get a 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.520 final decision about whether or not we really are in 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.080 the anthropist scene by the end of twenty twenty four. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.040 Well, Emma, thanks so much for joining us on Daily OS. 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.880 It's nice that we've entered the Emma era of the podcast. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.240 Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, and thank 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.080 you for sticking with me. If you're still listening, just 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:38.160 know I appreciate it. I know this is dance stuff. 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.480 Thanks for joining us for that very very very very 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.439 deep dive see what I did there on the Daily 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.160 OS today. If you learn something from today's episode, or 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.920 you've got some more weird and wonderful ways that we 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.960 can explain the news to you, don't forget to leave 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.959 a comment in Spotify, just in that little question box. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.400 We'll speak to you tomorrow. Till then, have a fantastic 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:02.120 start to the week.