The moon is no longer a virgin. We humans have wandered there for more than half a century, and our footprints, dead equipment, ruined spacecraft, works of art and even our feces cover its gray and cratered surface. Scientists say it’s time. Humans have become the dominant force influencing the geography of the Moon. And the situation will only get worse as more and more missions are sent to Earth’s magical moon in the coming years.

Researchers say we need to add words to this and add actions to words. In a new paper, they argue that we should declare a new epoch on the Moon (the Lunar Anthropocene), starting with the 1959 landing of the Russian Luna 2 spacecraft.

“The idea is pretty much the same as discussing the Anthropocene on Earth—examining how much humans have impacted our planet,” says planetary geoarchaeologist Justin Holcomb of the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas.

“The common view is that the Anthropocene began on Earth at some point in the past, hundreds of thousands of years ago or in the 1950s. Similarly, on the Moon, we argue that the Lunar Anthropocene has already begun, but we want to prevent major damage or until we measure a significant human-caused lunar halo.” “To delay its recognition until that time, which would be too late.”

Humans are very good at taking advantage of and thriving in the diverse and strange environments the world has to offer. We spread out everywhere we went and felt right at home. Of course, we are more comfortable in some places than others, but we find a way. And we leave evidence of our existence wherever we go.

When we figured out how to go into space, we took the trash with us. The space around the world is full of the garbage we throw away. And when we send a spacecraft to the Moon, we leave certain traces of our presence; a giant “We were here” in the form of unused equipment, debris, or craters and debris left by the spacecraft’s impact.

In their paper, Holcomb and his colleagues, anthropologist Rolf Mandel of the University of Kansas and geologist Carl Wegmann of North Carolina State University, laid out their case for assessing and cataloging the impact of human activity on the Moon.