Climate change through time

Abstract

The debate about climate change is fraught with problems; not everyone begins his or her argument from the same base. When pondering the climate of the past, trying to enhance our understanding of past climate variability and how climatic change millions of years ago impacted on the world’s biota at that time, and how past climates can help us solve problems based on today’s climates, it is essential that all argument begins with an understanding of the Earth’s climate system. This brief chapter is aimed at providing such a basic understanding (‘level playing field’) for such debate.