The times of Earth

We often hear of ‘history’ as war and peace, celebrating heroic deeds and assigning not-soheroic motivations to others. Those histories are occasionally inspiring — and often disturbing for history is power, holding the ability to unfurl action in the present. It is time, wise reader, to engage with real history — the chronicles of Earth — which comes from rock-hard sources (literally, given the geological layers scientists mine). Today, climate history is essential knowledge. The United Nations estimates between 1980 to 1999, 4,212 natural disasters occurred worldwide, claiming 1.19 million lives and costing US$ 1.63 trillion. Between 2000 to 2019, this rose to 7,348 disasters, affecting 4.2 billion and costing US$ 2.97 trillion.

Climate history explains the difference. The field is a many-layered one. It encompasses Earth’s physical history, from the emergence of its biosphere to the proliferation of its biodiversity. It records diverse elements — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, etc. — which, in stability, ensure life. It also tracks how humanity is making this balance wobble. Climate-related events, doubling between 1999 to 2019, stem from anthropogenic imbalances — between 1850 to 2022, humans emitted several billion tonnes of ‘greenhouse gases’, a planet-heating bouquet of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, by burning fossil fuels, destroying forests and polluting ecosystems. Many of us can’t easily see the link between human actions and environmental repercussions. Here, climate history shines a (renewable) light. By illuminating how Earth works, how it breathes and exhales, how its oceans and forests dance with currents and clouds, how its wetlands and peatlands store water and carbon and its species evolve, climate history warns us to stop rushing in where the cosmos fears a heavy tread.

It also encourages. As Times Evoke’s global experts emphasise, climate history helps us prepare for today’s challenges. With extreme weather, the world needs new paradigms of building, growing and being. Climate history offers panaceas of resilience. Also, it is part of your own extraordinary tale — you live on the universe’s only known home to life. You arrived here, a mix of stardust and personality, after 14 billion years. You hold journeys and prophecies in your hands — don’t overlook that in the maze of everyday thrills, bills and prattle. Join Times Evoke in exploring climate history — and your life.