Since 2019, we've covered the debate among geologists over whether to dub our current epoch the "Anthropocene" by the measurable mark we've made — through mining, deforestation, building and nuclear bombs — on the geologic record. The term comes from the Greek, anthropos, meaning human. Top geologists voted against that last year, but the decision hasn't stopped photographers from using the term as a frame to explore humans' relationship to the world we're remaking. This story is part of our series "following up" on past articles.

Photographer Zed Nelson is fixated on the anthropocene, even if it's not an official geologic epoch.

"Just as a term, it's a really useful way of focusing the mind on the fact that we humans are having a dramatic effect in a very, very short p

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