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

PHOTOS: Man's Global Impact
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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.

Anthropocene—Age of Man
Dubai (01 of05)
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Oil transformed Dubai in the 1970s. The city now boasts the world's tallest building, giant malls, and some two million residents, who depend on desalinated seawater and air-conditioning--and thus on cheap energy--to live in the Arabian desert. (credit:Jens Neumann/Edgar Rodtmann, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)
Rosignano Solvay, Italy (02 of05)
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A Tuscan beach captures the textured drama of humans and the sea. The "tropical" sands aren't natural; they're whitened by carbonates from the chemical plant, which also discharged mercury until recently. The plant converts salt extractedfrom the sea into chlorine and other essential products. Fossil fuels power such transformations; worldwide, the CO2 from smokestacks and tailpipes is slowly acidifying the ocean, threatening marine life. (credit:Massimo Vitali, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)
Industrial Farming - Almería Province, Spain (03 of05)
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On the arid plains of southern Spain, produce is grown under the world's largest array of greenhouses and trucked north. Greenhouses use water and nutrients efficiently and produce all year--tomatoes in winter, for instance. But globally the challenge is grain and meat, not tomatoes. It takes 38 percent of Earth's ice-free surface to feed seven billion people today, and two billion more are expected by 2050. (credit:Edward Burtynsky, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)
Moving Mountains -- Kayford Mountain, West Virginia(04 of05)
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As oil companies drill deeper for offshore oil, mining companies work 24/7 to level Appalachian peaks for coal, which supplies half of U.S. electricity. This summit vanished in a day. Some 470 have been erased since the 1980s; the waste often buries streams. Mountaintop removal recovers just 6 percent of a coal deposit. (credit:J. Henry Fair, National Geographic)
(05 of05)
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Read the full story in the March 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine, on newsstands now. (credit:National Geographic)

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