CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE
Using Fossils To Battle Climate Change
Instead of relying on (or denying) what mathematical models predict about global warming, we can learn from the past.
Paleontologists study fossils to understand past life on Earth. Unfortunately, our science has some limitations. We can’t travel back in time to understand what past ecosystems looked like or what dinosaurs' behavior was. Thus, we rely on “clues,” which has led many to describe our experts as “detectives of the past.”
However, our science also has some advantages. We may not be able to comprehend time snapshots fully. For example, we can’t know precisely what happened the day the meteorite that led to the death of dinosaurs hit the Earth. But fossils have a window to two very unique sources of data: 1) changes through long periods of time and 2) significant events with no precedents in human history.
German academic Wolfgang Kiessling and his collaborators recently published a peer-reviewed article showcasing how paleontological studies can help organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The authors talk about their own experience with this organization and highlight an important message:
[…] paleontology allows a…
