CLIMATE CHANGE: AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR CONNECTING THE PUBLIC WITH GEOLOGY AND THE GEOLOGIC RECORD

The general public is generally unfamiliar with the geologic record and basic geologic concepts, including the processes and products of volcanism and sedimentation, as well as the scope and units of geologic time. However, the geologic record holds much information that is relevant to today's issues. The growing concern about causes and consequences of global warming can serve as a segue to informing the public about past climate change—and developing a heightened awareness of both geologic processes and geologic history. Participants in Oregon PaleoLands Institute workshops and field trips are introduced to the Tertiary geologic record of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and of Oregon. Most participants arrive with little understanding of the geologic time scale, or of past global climate variations. However, putting regional geologic history into the context of past climate change and atmospheric variation makes today's ongoing climate change and the finality of extinctions more tangible. Geologic processes, including volcanic emission of gas, carbon sequestration, and sedimentation, assume greater importance. The awareness of past climate change also provides the geologic record with relevance to everyday lives—a critical aspect of paleoecology and paleontology that is often lacking in the general public's perception of these sciences.