Overview

For billions of years, microbes have produced and consumed greenhouse gases that regulate global temperature and in turn other aspects of our climate. The balance of these gases maintains Earth's habitability. Methane, a greenhouse gas produced only by microbes, may have kept Earth out of a deep freeze billions of years ago. Likewise, variations in carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas released by microbes and other organisms, help to explain the comings and goings of ice ages over the last million years. Now we face a human-made climate crisis with drastic consequences. The complete story behind greenhouse gases, however, involves microbes and their role in natural ecosystems. Microscopic organisms are also part of the solution, producing biofuels and other forms of green energy which keep fossil fuels in the ground. Other microbes can be harnessed to reduce the release of methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture, and geoengineering solutions that depend on microbes could pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. David L. Kirchman introduces a unique and timely contribution to the climate change conversation and the part microbes play in our past, present, and future. He takes listeners into the unseen world behind the most important environmental problem facing society today and encourages us to embrace microbial solutions.

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David L. Kirchman was the Maxwell P. and Mildred H. Harrington Professor of marine studies at the University of Delaware until he retired in 2020 and was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. Author of over 175 papers and two books, and editor of the ""bible"" of microbial oceanography (Microbial Ecology of the Oceans), Kirchman worked on the marine carbon cycle in regions around the world, from the Arctic to Antarctica. His findings were instrumental in showing the importance of bacteria and the rest of the microbial loop in the marine carbon cycle. He received a BA from Lawrence University and the PhD from Harvard University. Tristan Morris is an Earphones Award-winning narrator. He received an MFA in acting from the New School for Drama in New York City after studying theater and philosophy at Pacific Lutheran University. His work as a voice actor began in 2011 after training with master teachers Scott Brick, Pat Fraley, and Nancy Wolfson. He works in New York City and Denver creating new theatrical works.

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