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2023 and 2024 are not only the hottest years on record but likely the warmest years in the last 120,000 years. Human release of greenhouse gases means that now these gases have reached the same level they were during the Pliocene, 4.5 millions of years ago.  And CO2 in the atmosphere tracks extremely closely with global temperature.

Human release of greenhouse gases continues to increase! 2024 was the most ever. These gases are now adding heat to our planet at equivalent rate of 9 atomic bombs per second. 

Just as more than 50% of the human-released carbon in the atmosphere was put there in the last 30 years, we must quickly transition to renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and stop using fossil fuels. The most recent report by the world’s leading climate scientists and the Secretary General of the United Nation's pronouncements indicate that we have precious little time.

Created during the crucial early months of the Trump administration, this blog shares the research, writing, and insights of students in Cultural Studies and Climate Change at Western Michigan University. Working individually and in teams student posts will address current climate impacts, climate justice, the Trump administration, climate solutions, and climate activism.

Posts will address global, national, and local issues and perspectives and create a valuable information resource.

The fact that ice cores reveal that current temperatures may be as hot as the Pliocene 2.5 - 5 million years ago made me curious about what the Pliocene was like. Although modern humans first appeared "only" 200-300,000 years ago, there were early hominids such as Australopithicus, 4.2 million years ago. 

It was during the Pliocene that the Isthmus of Panama joined North and South America allowing animals and plants to move between those continents. 

This recreated image is of an animal called an elasmotherium, a sort of furry rhinoceros that lived in Russia during the Pliocene.

During the Pliocene Camels ranged in the far northern arctic.

Florida and the North American Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines were different during the Pliocene - warmer weather then meant that there was less ice and higher sea levels. Even if there was no more global warming - if humans completely stopped emitting greenhouse gases - sea-levels will eventually be like those of the Pliocene. How many people currently live in areas that will be underwater? What impacts will those sea levels have?

But, alas, we aren't going to immediately stop producing greenhouse gases. Now humans are releasing greenhouse gases10 x faster than in all of earth's history. We are starting to see the result with concerning heat waves, droughts, storms, wildfires and more now in 2025. 

If we don't quickly change behavior, stop burning fossil fuels, change agricultural and industrial practices, what will happen then? Can we and life on earth adapt? The present has already been identified one of the earth's great extinction events. If today's temperatures are starting to be like the Pliocene, then the key question is: where are we going?  

This blog shares the research and learning of advanced students at Western Michigan University concerned about the climate crisis. We write this blog to educate others and improve our future.