26 Sept, 12.00 - Richard Edmonds: The climate crisis - a geological perspective from the Jurassic Coast
Fossil fuels accumulate over millions of years due to geological processes, the processes so well displayed in the Jurassic Coast, and that is the formation of sedimentary rocks. Oil, gas and coal are the product of the Earth's natural carbon capture and storage but if you Google those very words 'the Earth's natural carbon capture and storage' you will find nothing about how that works. What you will find is a load of stuff about our efforts to capture and store carbon, but they are not even a measurable fraction of what is needed. The Earth is capturing up to a third of our global emissions, many, many times more than we could ever hope to achieve, and there is nothing about it; This knowledge does not appear to exist in the climate crisis discussion. This talk looks at how the Earth captures carbon, the geological processes and timescales, the sheer volumes involved and therefore the scale of the issue that faces us, and how working with the Earth could offer some degree of mitigation. Prepare to be depressed and empowered with the knowledge that everyone on Earth should know; the BIG story, the long game, the geological perspective.
Richard Edmonds is a graduate geologist, first warden of the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, former Earth Science Manager of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and now a freelancer on all matters Jurassic Coast related, and fossil guide.