Engine Earth
Professor Chris Jackson travels back into deep geological time charting the earth’s climate as it swings from hot house to ice house and back again. With the help of spectacular volcanic eruptions and giant snowball demonstrations, he shows us how the planet’s oldest rocks and fossils provide evidence of radical climate changes throughout history.
Chris reveals that what drives these changes is how much carbon dioxide is in our planet’s atmosphere. For billions of years volcanic activity increased CO2 levels, and mountain building reduced them; but in the last century a new kind of geological force is tipping the balance: human activity. For the first time in the planet’s history, we are changing the Earth’s climate at a rapid rate with dangerous consequences unless we act quickly.