Timefulness

Why an awareness of Earthâe(tm)s temporal rhythms is critical to our planetary survival

Few of us have any conception of the enormous timescales in our planetâe(tm)s long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems we are creating for ourselves. The passage of nine days, which is how long a drop of water typically stays in Earthâe(tm)s atmosphere, is something we can easily grasp. But spans of hundreds of yearsâe"the time a molecule of carbon dioxide resides in the atmosphereâe"approach the limits of our comprehension. Our everyday lives are shaped by processes that vastly predate us, and our habits will in turn have consequences that will outlast us by generations. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earthâe(tm)s deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need for a more sustainable future.

Marcia Bjornerud shows how geologists chart the planetâe(tm)s past, explaining how we can determine the pace of solid Earth processes such as mountain building and erosion and comparing them with the more unstable rhythms of the oceans and atmosphere. These overlapping rates of change in the Earth systemâe"some fast, some slowâe"demand a poly-temporal worldview, one that Bjornerud calls âeoetimefulness.âe� She explains why timefulness is vital in the Anthropocene, this human epoch of accelerating planetary change, and proposes sensible solutions for building a more time-literate society.

This compelling book presents a new way of thinking about our place in time, enabling us to make decisions on multigenerational timescales. The lifespan of Earth may seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earthâe(tm)s historyâe"and the magnitude of our effects on the planet.