If you had any doubts that we’re living in a new age called the Anthropocene – the term geologists have begun to use to describe our era, as defined by the impact humans are leaving on the planet – then a look at the hundreds of cavernous open-pit mining operations scattered across the Earth’s surface ought to be convincing.
Below is Berkeley Pit, an open pit copper mine in Butte, Montana. The mine opened in 1955 and was shut down in 1982.
Is this a scar on our beautiful planet? What do you think?