Why an awareness of Earth's temporal rhythms is critical to our
planetary survival
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 we are creating for ourselves. 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. Our everyday lives
are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and our habits will in
turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations.
Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth's deep past and
conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we
need for a more sustainable future.
Marcia Bjornerud shows how geologists chart the planet's past,
explaining how we can determine the pace of solid Earth processes such
as mountain building and erosion and comparing them with the more
unstable rhythms of the oceans and atmosphere. These overlapping rates
of change in the Earth system-some fast, some slow-demand a
poly-temporal worldview, one that Bjornerud calls "timefulness." She
explains why timefulness is vital in the Anthropocene, this human epoch
of accelerating planetary change, and proposes sensible solutions for
building a more time-literate society.
This compelling book presents a new way of thinking about our place in
time, enabling us to make decisions on multigenerational timescales. The
lifespan of Earth may seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human
existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth's
history-and the magnitude of our effects on the planet.
