Overview
What kind of fossils will we leave, as relics into the far future? A blizzard of new objects has suddenly appeared on Earth: plastic bottles, ballpoint pens, concrete flyways, chicken bones, cans, teabags, phones, shirts. They're produced for our comfort and pleasure then quickly discarded. This new-made treasure chest underpins our lives. But it is also giving a completely new style of fossilization to our planet. Designed to resist corrosion and decay, many will remain, petrified, as future geology. What will these technofossils look like? How long will they last and how will they change? Discarded describes how they transform and what will be left of them. These new fossils have meaning for our lives today. For we live on a world increasingly buried under our growing waste. As our discarded artefacts begin to change into fossils, they may be swallowed by birds, entangle fish, alter microbial communities and release toxins. Even buried in rock, technofossils may break down into new-formed oil and gas, change the composition of groundwater, and attract new mineral growths. It is a new planetary phenomenon, now unfolding around us. Scientists are only just beginning to grasp its scale, and get to grips with how it functions. This book describes the kind of science that is emerging to show the far-future human footprint on Earth.
Full Product Details
Author: Sarah Gabbott ,
Jan Zalasiewicz ,
Clare Staniforth ,
Clare Staniforth
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Imprint: Tantor Audio
Edition: Unabridged edition
ISBN: 9798228549739
Publication Date: 15 May 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Jan Zalasiewicz is a professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester, and before that, worked at the British Geological Survey. A field geologist, paleontologist, and stratigrapher, he teaches various aspects of geology and earth history to undergraduate and postgraduate students and is a researcher into fossil ecosystems and environments across over half a billion years of geological time. He has published several books and over a hundred papers in scientific journals. Clare Staniforth has a BA in live performance and has worked as a voice-over artist for over a decade. Her passion for teaching led her to become a drama teacher, as well as an executive voice and speech coach. She narrates books in a variety of genres, including mindfulness and meditation, biography, fiction, children's literature, and fantasy. Clare Staniforth has a BA in live performance and has worked as a voice-over artist for over a decade. Her passion for teaching led her to become a drama teacher, as well as an executive voice and speech coach. She narrates books in a variety of genres, including mindfulness and meditation, biography, fiction, children's literature, and fantasy.
