In a step toward formally recognizing that humankind—with its incessant burning of fossil fuels, use of nuclear weapons, and more—has dramatically altered the state of planet Earth, a panel of prominent scientists voted last week to designate a new geological epoch titled the “Anthropocene.”

The 34-member Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) is expected to submit a proposal to the International Commission on Stratigraphy to officially recognize the Anthropocene—which means “age of man”—by 2021.

According to Nature‘s Meera Subramanian, 29 members of the AWG voted “in favor of starting the new epoch in the mid-twentieth century, when a rapidly rising human population accelerated the pace of industrial production, the use of agricultural chemicals, and other human activities.”

“At the same time,” Subramanian reported, “the first atomic-bomb blasts littered the globe with radioactive debris that became embedded in sediments and glacial ice, becoming part of the geologic record.”

Last week’s vote, which was over a decade in the making, was just the first step in the process of formally recognizing the Anthropocene epoch.