{"id":347,"date":"2025-08-11T10:46:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migration.beingalive.earth\/?page_id=347"},"modified":"2025-09-27T14:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T14:59:35","slug":"geological-perspectives-on-deep-time-past-mass-extinctions-and-the-anthropocene","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/?page_id=347","title":{"rendered":"2. Geological perspectives on deep time, past mass extinctions, and the Anthropocene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this session we will explore how our sense of time changes our perception of now and how deep past can help us imagine deep future. Marcia Bjornerud&#8217;s book introduces us to the geological understandings of the past and offers a perspective on time which releases us from the &#8216;tyranny of the contemporary&#8217;, allowing us to re-imagine our place in the history of the Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">readings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marcia Bjornerud.<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/press.princeton.edu\/books\/hardcover\/9780691181202\/timefulness\"> Timefulness. How Thinking Like a Geologist can Help Save the World.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapter 1 &#8211; A Call for Timefulness (6-18)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapter 4 &#8211; Changes in the Air (118-125)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapter 5 &#8211; Great Accelerations (126-134, 143-148, 157-158)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapter 6 &#8211; Future Tense (178-179)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Appendix III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">questions for discussion <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How do you imagine &#8216;time&#8217;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What might be the alternatives to linear understanding of time? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have you ever felt like you destroyed &#8216;eternity&#8217; of history in a single moment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are the threats of ignoring the planetary history, the natural laws, the timescales of geologic processes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why does Marcia Bjornerud believe that \u201cfathoming deep time is arguably geology\u2019s single greatest contribution to humanity?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What similarities do the past mass extinctions share? Do you see parallels to our current situation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Should we have international governance mechanisms to oversee and regulate planetary-scale manipulation of the atmosphere? Why or why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where can chronophobia be seen in present society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is your take on the expression that our sense of time becomes more refined with age?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How can we as human beings living in the 21st century truly adopt an attitude of timefulness? How can embracing timefulness change our relationship with nature?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the last paragraph, the author states that Earth is continuously communicating with us with every stone, leaf, and ecosystem. This belief is very widespread in Japan as in Shintoism. I wonder if this belief clashes with the beliefs here in Europe (it feels very anti-Christian)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is keeping us from being timeful? If timefulness is such an importatnt thing, why isn\u2019t it widespread already?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How do you understand the words of Aldo Leopold that we need to start \u201cthinking like a mountain?\u201d<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">additional resources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marcia Bjornerud<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/forthewild.world\/listen\/marcia-bjornerud-on-finding-humility-in-our-geologic-past-181?rq=marcia\">Finding Humility in Our Geologic Past<\/a>. For the Wild Podcast (audio\/text)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/humansandnature.org\/timefulness-interview-with-marcia-bjornerud\">Timefulness: A Geologist&#8217;s Story. Interview with <strong>Marcia Bjornerud<\/strong><\/a> by Anja Katina Claus. Center for Humans and Nature (text)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marcia Bjornerud<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/humansandnature.org\/citizens-reunited\">Citizens Reunited<\/a>. Center for Humans and Nature (essay)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pd9seKaplDI\">Timefullness by <strong>Marcia Bjornerud<\/strong><\/a>. The Long Now Foundation lecture (video)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thomas Halliday<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguin.co.uk\/books\/314443\/otherlands-by-halliday-thomas\/9780241405741\">Otherlands: A World in the Making <\/a>(book)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this session we will explore how our sense of time changes our perception of now and how deep past can help us imagine deep future. Marcia Bjornerud&#8217;s book introduces us to the geological understandings of the past and offers a perspective on time which releases us from the &#8216;tyranny of the contemporary&#8217;, allowing us [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-347","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":905,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/347\/revisions\/905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}