ABSTRACT
Students and the broader public eagerly seek a greater appreciation of the earth sciences ranging from the profound evolution of life on Earth to pervasive concerns about the ecological impacts of modern climate and environmental changes. The close-to-historical highs of some present-day climate trajectories have certainly captured community attention, with real concerns emerging about the possible ecological consequences, especially for mankind itself. Whilst this issue presents an opportunity to improve societal attitudes and behaviours towards the environment, it is also important to avoid unnecessary fear mongering. Since the emergence of life on Earth more than 4 billion years ago, climate-related biological fluctuations have been a constant. Four separate environmentally induced mass extinctions even wiped out more than 70% of all living organisms (N.B. a fifth mass extinction event was caused by a meteorite crashing into the Gulf of Mexico). On the return of favourable environmental conditions after the mass extinctions, the survivors recovered, with many eventually thriving. Over the long run life has endured and continued to develop with increasing diversity and sophistication. Optimistically, resilience should persist through future environmental turbulence – aided, it would be hoped, by the capacity of durable, highly intelligent organisms (i.e., us humans) to identify and rectify imminent catastrophic events including those self-inflicted by their own development (e.g., anthropogenic climate change). Sustainability education campaigns – incorporating a baseline knowledge of Earth’s natural processes and dynamics and climate change mitigation and remediation strategies – will be crucial to driving the transformative actions necessary to support the long-term future of humans (and other organisms) on Earth.
