Timefulness: How Thinking like a Geologist can Help Save the World (by Marcia Bjornerud)

Book Lab Instructor

Drs. James Pitts and Carol Dehler

Day/Time

Thursdays, 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Dates

January 16 - February 6, 2025

Location

LLCA 102

Synopsis

Few of us have any conception of the enormous timescales in our planet's long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems humans are creating. The passage of nine days, which is how long a drop of water typically stays in Earth's atmosphere, is something we can easily grasp. But spans of hundreds of years—the time a molecule of carbon dioxide resides in the atmosphere—approach the limits of our comprehension.  

However, our everyday lives are shaped by geological processes that vastly predate us, and our current habits have consequences that will outlast us for many generations. This book shows how geologists chart the planet's past in the context of the Geologic Time Scale, explaining how we can determine the pace of solid Earth processes, such as mountain building and erosion, and comparing them with the rhythms governing climate. These overlapping rates, "some fast, some slow," demand a different worldview. This book reveals how thinking about time like a geologist, knowing these rhythms of Earth's deep past, can give us the perspective we need to create a more sustainable future. In short, this compelling book presents a new way of thinking about our place in time, and, perhaps, might enable us to make better decisions on multigenerational timescales.