Episode 079 — with Patrick Mellor — On Earth’s History of Climate Change
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Hey there, Zengineers?
We hope you’re down for a wild ride this week. Our guest is Patrick Mellor: biological scientist, philosopher, geological climatologist (we may have invented this title), researcher, journalist and poet. Needless to say, we had a blast chatting with him.
This conversation feels like it lasted for days with all the ground we covered, but we had to cut it down to just the best nuggets. We discuss Earth before life, the wild changes the planet has endured, and how the planet has evolved over time because of life. The impact has been profound, and continues to be today as humanity faces one of its greatest challenges with anthropogenic climate change.
Patrick brings a perspective to our study of Earth and its climate that’s truly hard to come by. We share a concern for the current situation, but Patrick also shares a perspective of true beauty with us, and one that has stuck with us since the episode. Life on Earth has caused mass extinctions before, but NEVER before has that life been so aware of what is going on and so able to affect positive change. We’re in this together, and Patrick’s positivity shines through in this episode. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we enjoyed having it.
Special shout out this week to our longtime listener, Dean for introducing us to Patrick and allowing this episode to come together. Thanks for supporting the show, Dean!
Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com
Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com
Cheers,
Adam & Brian
Show Notes
- Patrick’s New Book: https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9781943209248/alkali-shores.aspx
- Ancient Upheavals Show How To Geoengineer A Stable Climate (by Patrick): https://palladiummag.com/2019/01/28/ancient-upheavals-show-how-to-geoengineer-a-stable-climate/
- Flood Basalt Eruptions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_basalt
- Panspermia (a theory of how life spread in the unverse): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
- The Younger Dryas: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/The%20Younger%20Dryas
- Testing Iron Fertilization of the Oceans: https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2012/10/18/iron-fertilization-savior-to-climate-change-or-ocean-dumping
- Hydroelectric Power on the Mediteranean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa
- The deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calypso_Deep
- Refilling The Mediterranean Sea: https://mappingignorance.org/2014/02/07/how-the-mediterranean-was-refilled/
- Yellowstone’s Supervolcano: https://www.seeker.com/earth/a-deep-mantle-plume-fuels-the-yellowstone-supervolcano
- Permian-Triassic Exstinction Event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event
