The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 22 February 2021
by Marcia Bjornerud
The great pyramids of Egypt took about twenty years to build and have lasted 4500 years so far. The great cathedrals of Western Europe, in many cases, took centuries to build, some of which are still being constructed by the distant cultural descendants of their first builders. The American insterstate highway system, though one could argue its origins lay in the short term battles of the Cold War, remain an ongoing project in long-term infrastructure that has transformed the landscape over half a century. Not all of these projects were begun with the intentions of very long term thinking, but they do result from the now-rare human quality of thinking first of our descendants. In the 21st century, we are faced with the biggest long-term project in history, that of facing the climate disaster of our own making. We owe it to our distant descendants to think in and of the very long term and undertake the difficult and expensive project of doing what we can to stabilize the Earth's climate.
In order to think long term, it helps to place ourselves within the course of planetary history, to understand the expanse of time and the scale of the changes that can take place in that time. Geologist and professor Marcia Bjornerud sets out in this engaging book to give us a compelling and fascinating geologic history of planet Earth. She lays out the processes that resulted in the landscape around us, and describes the ways in which scientists have looked at the geologic evidence to determine the almost incomprehensibly long timescales over which the geologic landscape and biological evolution have played out. The surface of the Earth has been reworked by the remarkable processes of plate tectonics and erosion so much that it is difficult to determine the oldest rocks in the world, but we've done pretty well. There have been several mass extinction events in the three-billion-year history of life, and we're in a man-made event now. Man has transformed the climate to such an extent that many geologists have named a new geological era, a word you may have seen around lately, the Anthropocene. We have done this to our planet by not fully recognizing our connection to its evolution, and it takes an understanding of our role to preserve a livable planet for future generations. (In a geologic time scale, though, even if we wipe ourselves out, it's easy to envision a repopulation of the Earth as after all the previous extinction events. But that is no reason to take a hands-off view of our place here.)
There is so much that has to be done, so much that we must face. Our political will is weak, and our ability to think in the very long term is nearly nonexistent. Humans built the pyramids. It has been said that Mt Rushmore will be one of our most enduring creations. Why can't a sustainable environment be just such a legacy? Bjornerud uses the last chapters of her book describing a vision of a hopeful transformation of our thinking. It all comes down to education, and we haven't been so good at that lately, either. In the face of daunting obstacles, this book is still a fascinating trip through deep time. The author's excitement in the field is contagious. The book goes into compelling detail without being too scholarly. It doesn't talk down to the reader, either. There's a story in every rock. Highly recommended.
See also: [The Clock of the Long Now by Stewart Brand]