Millions of years from now, what will be the signs that humans once lived, and thrived, on planet Earth? Will it be some vast monument of construction? Maybe the evidence of nuclear carnage?
While either of these could well be true, the most likely enduring relic of humanity will be something far less epic: chicken bones.
A geological term, epochs refer to periods in Earth's history. Generally, the start and end points can be identified in fossil records because they're marked by big changes in the way the Earth operates.
The Paleocene epoch lasted from 66 to 56 million years ago. It began with a bang: the comet that led to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. It ended with a period of natural climate change.
We can't identify the end point, since we're in the midst of it, so things can get murky. But a proposed epoch, the Anthropocene, began at some point in human history.
It either started over ten thousand years ago, when the Agricultural Revolution led to a population explosion, or in 1945, when nuclear weapons were first used and the world took on an apocalyptic tone.
One hallmark of modern humanity is factory farming. At the forefront of this has been chickens. While humans have eaten chicken for centuries, the 20th century has seen massive chicken farming: about 50 billion are farmed annually.
Once seen as a throwaway part of the bird, chicken wings were popularized by bars (notably the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY) who found a way to market them to hungry patrons.
Picture the pile of bones on your plate after you house an order of chicken wings, and multiply it by several billion. That's what we're dealing with on a global scale.
Yes, but only under the right conditions. The vast majority of chicken bones are thrown into the garbage, which then gets deposited at a landfill. And at landfills, things don't decompose normally.
This allows the bones, and other organic materials, to mummify. If mummified, bones could be preserved for thousands or even millions of years. Considering we're eating 50 billion chickens' worth of bones every year, there could be a lot of preserved chicken bones.
Sam Wong's article in New Scientist explains things well, breaking down how humanity first fell in love with eating chicken, how domestic chickens have developed, and where we're at now.
If you're keeping score at home, pork is currently in first place, followed by chicken, beef and mutton — but if current trends continue, chicken will soon be the most widely eaten meat in the world.
True, widespread chicken consumption isn't necessarily a sign of the apocalypse. But it does fit other hallmarks of the Anthropocene epoch — including humans in developed countries eating an unsustainable amount of meat.
Many of us eat more meat than we really need to in a week, and more meat than we need to in a serving, so cutting back is an option.
It goes beyond chicken bones, of course. Globally, we need to do more to reduce pollution, reduce emissions and live more sustainable lives. Cutting down on meat is a very small step.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying a plate of chicken wings from time to time. But when you throw those bones away, spare a thought for how long they'll be here — and what it says about humanity's impact.
