A review by lilith89ibz
Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World by Marcia Bjornerud

4.0

Bad things happen to good ecosystems.

Out of all the natural sciences, geology is the one about which I know the least by far. Most of the books I've read that delve into the origins of the Earth are usually more focused on paleontology than geology. I've been trying to remedy this, and this book was a great one to pick up if you find yourself in a similar situation and are also interested in the Precambrian.

Bjornerud goes into detail about how geologists finally figured out how to date rocks, and I am forever impressed by the process. The ingenuity! The wild speculation that often lead nowhere! The resilience! All so that people who are afraid of their own mortality and insignificance can try to poke holes into the science with their strange creationist convictions, as if we didn't have enough problems already.

Grasping the concept of time at such a large scale is beyond difficult, but Bjornerud manages to paint a vivid timeline. The first time I was truly struck by the way time works was reading Rovelli's [b:The Order of Time|38714658|The Order of Time|Carlo Rovelli|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1608837140l/38714658._SX50_.jpg|56537968], in which he asks the reader to think about rocks as events rather than objects. A very relevant concept for reading this book.

What I don't think this book does as well is proposing any good ways of reversing or further preventing climate change. One of Bjornerud's proposals is adding geology to the curriculum on par with chemistry and physics instead of as an afterthought. I am very skeptical of the impact that would have. The vast majority of people don't fall in love with maths in high school, and they probably would be equally bored by geology, if it's taught in the same way. Science communication is wonderful and I wish passion for our environment could be taught to children in schools, but the way the education system works is not set up for that. Bill Nye the Science Guy and Beakman's World have done more to ensnare children's attentions and focus them towards science than schools ever have. Maybe that would be more effective.

She also falls short of proposing any novel ways of offsetting carbon emissions, or even criticising the current way we are being sold carbon offsetting, which is not only ineffective, but counterproductive (and many times, also a scam). She rightly points out that old growth forests are more effective at reducing carbon from the atmosphere than new growth, but planting conifers seems to be the #1 thing we have, as a species, decided is Doing Something™. Ocean acidification is also a big problem that planting trees does nothing to solve, and there are many people coming up with new ideas, from building artificial reefs, to using seaweed and oysters to remove pollutants from the water, but these are jobs that are far removed from geology.

In conclusion, this is a great book about long term timelines, but perhaps not the one that will save the planet on the short term.