[All] As hot summer approaches and the news of heat waves makes us think about environmental destruction...

Another feature of the Anthropocene that cannot be left out is waste. Humans are the only living organisms that produce solid waste that threatens the natural environment. Solid waste refers to solid waste generated as a result of human daily life or industrial activities. Spent nuclear fuel rods buried deep underground after being used as nuclear fuel for nuclear power generation are the most hazardous waste material among human-created waste materials. The half-life (the time it takes for the toxicity of radioactive material to be reduced by half) of plutonium-239 is 24,000 years, that of neptunium-237 is 2 million years, and that of uranium-235 is a whopping 700 million years. Since the mid-20th century, the human waste footprint has expanded into outer space.

700 million years from now, the Earth will be remembered as trash (hani.co.kr)