Brock Professor of Earth Sciences Francine McCarthy has spent years at the forefront of efforts to add a new era, the Anthropocene, to the Earth’s geologic time scale, reflecting the impact of humans on the planet.

McCarthy discussed the proposed Anthropocene, the efforts of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) and her research when she spoke at TEDx Manhattan Beach in California on Saturday, Nov. 4.

“I hope that adding an Anthropocene epoch to the time scale will wake us up to the impact that we’ve had on our planet and get us working more quickly together to solve that problem,” she said during her talk, “Humans permanently altered our planet. It’s time to act.”

Along with a research team, McCarthy and Brock Professor of Earth Sciences Martin Head have gathered evidence for the Anthropocene at Crawford Lake, which was selected by the AWG as the site that best shows the boundary of the proposed new epoch last July.

McCarthy says she enjoyed the experience of working with the TEDx organizers in scripting and rehearsing the talk beforehand, as well as the people she encountered.

TEDx Talk events are locally organized events, licensed by TED, during which speakers share their ideas in short, inspiring presentations.