A committee of experts has shot down the proposal to declare a new geological moment, but the president himself denounces irregularities in the vote. The idea of the Anthropocene has become so popular in recent years that even the Royal Spanish Academy adopted the term in the Dictionary of the Language in 2021.

The concept is still up in the air, in the midst of vehement controversy among specialists. “Given the existing evidence, which continues to mount, I would not be surprised by a future call to reconsider our proposal,” says geologist Colin Waters.