A temperature rise of three or four degrees doesn’t seem like a big deal… Until you go back a few million years and start exploring what the world looked like the last time the Earth was that hot and CO2 levels were even higher than they are now.

Peter Brannen is an award-winning science journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED and The Guardian, among many other national publications. He is also the author of The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Peter joins Ross to discuss his most recent article in The Atlantic, ‘The Terrifying Warning Lurking in the Earth’s Ancient Rock Record.’ 

Peter explains what the planet was like during the Pliocene (the last time CO2 reached 400 PPM), the Miocene (500 PPM) and the Eocene (600-plus PPM), describing how rising levels of carbon dioxide might transform the Earth as we know it. Listen in for Peter’s insight on what an understanding of deep time can teach us about the impact climate change has on the planet and help us appreciate the difference three degrees can make.

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Resources

Peter’s Website

‘The Terrifying Warning Lurking in the Earth’s Ancient Rock Record’ in The Atlantic

The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen

Peter on Reversing Climate Change EP087

David Grinspoon

David Grinspoon on Reversing Climate Change: Geology Cage Match! The Sapiezoic vs. the Anthropocene—w/ Dr. David Grinspoon, astrobiologist

David Grinspoon on Reversing Climate Change S1E47: 47: David Grinspoon, Astrobiologist

The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate by David Archer

Jessica Tierney on Twitter

Ted Scripps Fellowship Program

‘Atmospheric CO2: Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature’ in Science

Wallace Broecker