they study. Do we really need to argue about these geologic-time terms? Is it not enough to say we have had an effect, regardless of the exact time it happened? Undeniably, agricultural signatures can be found deep within the rock strata which mark mankinds departure from a nomadic life to one built upon cultivating and manipulating the earth to sustaining human existence. The earliest evidence is found in the Fertile Crescent in Jordan and Israel, a region also known as the southern Levant, and dates back 11,000 years. Much later, with the dawn of the atomic era, traces of radiation were laid down in soils around the globe and in the oceans. Humans are having a measurable effect on the earth, one that is out of scale with the effect of the other creatures with which we share this world. In order to explain this in more detail let’s look at the concept of ACTION and REACTION. The world shaped us. We responded physically, adapting and evolving to suit our environments. For example, in cold climates we typically find peoples with stocky builds. The reduced surface area compared to weight allows more body heat to be retained. By comparison, a thin, long-limbed build is typical of humans in hot regions. The more expansive skin surface compared to weight allows for body heat to disperse more readily. Further, people living in hot, humid climates tend to have broad, flat noses that allow inhaled air to be moistened and that moisture to be retained. While people inhabiting hot, dry regions typically have narrowed, projecting noses. This allows the nose to reduce the amount of water that is lost from the lungs during breathing. Additionally, Indigenous Australians living in the Central Desert have an unusual physical adaptation. On cold desert nights the temperature can drop to freezing for short periods. In response they have evolved the ability to drop their body temperatures without triggering the usual reflex of shivering[1]. We adapt to survive. ACTION REACTION. However, humans also react in ways separate from the principals of adaptation and evolution that all beings are held to. Now, let’s consider some cultures which have had more impact on the earth than others? First Nation cultures, for example, seem to be able to adapt to and appropriately use resources available within their habitat without abusing it. Philipp Blom in his 2019 work, “Nature’s Mutiny”, gives this example: In the year 1400, global temperatures began to drop and by the 1500s had dropped by a full 2°C, resulting in extreme weather events. In England a freezing winter followed by a dry spring and hot summer dried out the largely wooden structures of London resulting in the Great Fire, in which 80,000 lost their dwellings[2]. Harvests also failed during this period. Peasants starved, social systems collapsed and anarchy threatened as a social world largely centred on grain production struggled to recover. Blom suggests that the crisis in agriculture led to a vast reorganisation of social structures, more efficient production and the advent of long-distance trade. Whole continents full of natural resources were identified and systematically
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