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ENCORE\xa0The record of the rocks is not just the history of Earth; it\u2019s your history too.\xa0Geologists can learn about events going back billions of years that influenced \u2013 and even made possible \u2013 our present-day existence and shaped our society.\nIf the last Ice Age had been a bit warmer, the rivers and lakes of the Midwest would have been much farther north and the U.S. might still be a small country of 13 states.\xa0If some Mediterranean islands hadn\u2019t twisted a bit, no roads would have led to Rome.\nGeology is big history, and the story is on-going.\xa0Human activity is changing the planet too, and has introduced its own geologic era, the Anthropocene.\xa0Will Earthlings of a hundred million years from now dig up our plastic refuse and study it the way we study dinosaur bones?\nPlus, the dodo had the bad luck to inhabit a small island and couldn\u2019t adapt to human predators.\xa0But guess what?\xa0It wasn\u2019t as dumb as you think.\nGuests:\n\n\nWalter Alvarez\xa0\u2013 Professor of Geology, University of California, Berkeley, and author of\xa0A Most Improbable Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves\n\n\n\nDavid Grinspoon\xa0\u2013\xa0Senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, and author of\xa0Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet\u2019s Future\n\n\n\nEugenia Gold\xa0\u2013 Instructor, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University\n\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices