This online short course is designed to provide a geologic perspective of the climate debate to both geoscientists and non-geoscientists. By completing the course participants will have a better understanding of how the earth’s climate/sea levels/plates have changed/moved over geologic time, the earth’s evolving climate/plate positions/sea-level variations affected life on earth, and the environment has impacted man & man has impacted the earth’s environment.
Did you know that:
- We are in an ice age from a geologic perspective?
- Through most of the earth’s history there almost never ice at the North Pole, and far less Ice at the South Pole?
- Massive ice sheets covered parts of North America and northern Europe during the last glacial maxima about 25,000 years ago?
- Sea Level has risen by almost 400 feet (120m) over the last 20,000 years
- Plate Tectonics has played a huge role in climate change and life on earth
- Major sea-level falls, and rises have happened hundreds of time during the Phanerozoic
- During most of the Phanerozoic, epicontinental seas covered large parts of North America
- The United States was in the southern hemisphere during most of the Paleozoic, with the present-day east coast pointed toward the south pole
Well, if you didn’t maybe it’s time to take a 21st Century look or re-look into the earth’s history!
Why This Class Stands Out
This course provides a geologic perspective to the climate debate
Topics
- Plate Movement over Geologic Time
- Climate changes over the Earth’s History
- Sea Level Variations over the Phanerozoic
- Tools of the Trade for unravelling plate movement, climatic change, & sea level variations
- Case studies on how the earth has impacted human development and human history
- How man has impacted the earth
Pre-class Reading
Origins: How Earth’s History Shaped Human History — Lewis Dartnell, Basic Books, 2019, 346p