mass extinction
-
Hell is real, and cyanobacteria were condemned to burn, but they might save us still.
Cyanobacteria turned our planet into a place of fire and ice, causing the first mass extinction. Then they too nearly went extinct. Their descendants were imprisoned in the cells of plants. We burn their old prison cells when we drive down the street. And yet, their lineage might save us still.
biology, buffering, carbon sinks, climate, climate change, cyanobacteria, early Earth, early life, early life on earth, energy, evolution, global warming, greenhouse gas, mass extinction, nonlinear response curves, oxygen, oxygen catastrophe, oxygen poisoning, oxygen sinks, photosynthesis, science, sustainability, the evolution of life, the first mass extinction, the invention of fire
-
On the toothy origins of our inner fire.
With one weird trick, morganucodon kept our kind from being killed by saprophytic fungi.
ancestor worship, ancient fossils, biology, blight, chewing, Chicago, climate change, cooking, decline of reptiles, dinosaur, dinosaurs, Emily Monosson, evolution, fall of dinosaurs, Fire, fire myths, first mammal, fossils, fungal epidemics, fungal infections, fungal pandemics, fungi, global warming, inner fire, mass extinction, mastication, metabolism, morganucodon, nature, proto-mammal, protomammal, rise of mammals, saprophytic fungi, science, Steve Brussate, teeth, The Field Museum, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, tooth, warm blood, warm bloodedness, wildlife
-
On the timescales of apocalypse.
The world is not at risk. The world has been through this before. But human civilization has never experienced such change.
10 million years of climate, 10 million years of climate change, 20 thousand years of climate, 20 thousand years of climate change, 500 million years of climate, 500 million years of climate change, assessing past climate, average global temperatures, climate, climate apocalypse, climate change, climate change and evolution, climate change during history of civilization, climate change in human evolution, climate science, environment, environmentalism, evolutionary pressure, feedback loop, global temperatures, global warming, human evolution, ice cores, isotope analysis, Kristin Bergmann, mass extinction, paleoclimatology, past climate, past climate change, science, the history of civilization, timescales of climate change, when has climate change happened before
-
On dangerous air & the damnation of cyanobacteria.
Like us, cyanobacteria flourished! And in their exuberance, they poisoned their world.
air pollution, anthropocene, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon, atmospheric composition, bistability, buffered systems, calamity, carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon emission, carbon emissions, carbon tax, climate change, climate destabilization, climate justice, CO2, Covid, Covid-19, cyanobacteria, divine retribution, endosymbiosis, evolution of early animals, evolution of life, extinction, global warming, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases, invisible dangers, justice, mass extinction, More Dangerous Air, oxygen, oxygen concentration, pollution, punishment, retribution, stromatolites, tipping point -
On apocalypse clocks.
It’s 10:58 a.m. If we’re still here at 7:26 p.m., we die. Can we escape? Not if we roast ourselves at 10:59.
24 hours, 24-hour geological clock, apocalypse, carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, carbon tax, climate change, climate destabilization, cognitive gaps, desertification, end of life, end of life on Earth, escape from Earth, evolution, evolutionary time, extinction, geological clock, geology, global warming, greenhouse gases, human evolution, human folly, humans arose in last 2 minutes, humans arose in last minute, illustrating data, illustrating time, interstellar migration, life of the sun, life on Earth in a single day, lifespan of the sun, lifetime of the sun, Marcia Bjornerud, mass extinction, representing data, representing time, representing time as a day, Revelation, review of Timefulness, space exploration, thinking like a geologist, Timefulness, Timefulness review
-
On social norms.
Would you pull over for a fire truck on its way to fight climate change?
45, Amazon, Amazon rain forest, animal agriculture, anthropocene, Brazil, Brazilian politics, Brazilian presidency, carbon, carbon emissions, cattle farming, cattle ranching, clear cutting, climate, climate change, climate change caused by animal agriculture, climate change caused by diet, climate change caused by meat, climate denial, climate destabilization, climate inaction, climate instability, climate reparations, collective action, consumer action, consumer choice, cows, cows and climate change, cows and methane, Donald Trump, Eating Animals, environment, Environmental Protection Agency, environmentalism, EPA, ethics, extinction, extractive industry, farmed animals, farming, flooding, GBI, global warming, global wealth tax, guaranteed basic income, GWT, inhabitable earth, Jonathan Safran Foer, lungs of the Earth, mass extinction, meat eating, mining, morality, personal choice, personal responsibility, plant-based diet, PotUS, reparations, science denial, social norms, Trump, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, vegetarianism, We Are the Weather, wealth inequality
-
On the sounds of aberrant ecosystems
The world humans are born into inevitably seems normal, no matter how hot, or loud, or empty of animals…
acidity, anthropocene, birds, buffer, buffering, climate change, climate destabilization, Collapse, cultivation, cultural extinction, David Haskell, deforestation, depopulation, directed evolution, domestication, Easter Island, endangered species, environmentalism, evolution, extinction, global warming, Goblin Nabob, Herman Melville, industrial revolution, innovation, Jared Diamond, landscape amnesia, loss of diversity, Magic, Magic the Gathering, mass extinction, Michael McCarthy, Moby Dick, natural renewal, noise pollution, ocean, outdoor cats, overpopulation, population crash, progress, renewal, songbirds, sperm whale, Squee, technology, The Moth Snowstorm, The Songs of Trees, vegan, veganism, whale, where have all the insects gone, windshield phenomenon
-
On crashing waves of violence and Paul Kingsnorth’s ‘The Wake.’
People are raving about the new film “Racing Extinction.” What might impending extinction feel like for those last few survivors?
ancient humans, Beowulf, CK Scott Moncrieff, distribution of wealth, economics, extinction, Homo sapiens, human evolution, inequality, land holdings, land rights, Marcel Proust, mass extinction, Neanderthals, Norman Invasion, Old English, Paul Kingsnorth, Sapiens, Seamus Heaney, Stonehenge, The Wake, Translation, wealth, Yuval Noah Harari
Frank Brown Cloud 