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How Understanding What Killed The Dinosaurs Can Help Us Prepare For Climate Change

In his book "The Ends of the World," Peter Brannen looks at what happened to cause past crises and extinctions, and tries to determine what our future might bring.
"The Ends of the World," by Peter Brannen. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

There have been five mass extinction events in the history of the Earth. In his book “The Ends of the World,” author Peter Brannen looks at what happened to cause these crises — from massive volcanic eruptions to asteroids — and tries to determine what our future might bring.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Brannen (@PeterBrannen1) about how climate change and increasing levels of carbon dioxide could lead to another mass extinction, and what we can do to prevent it.

Book Excerpt: ‘The Ends Of The World’

By Peter Brannen

Introduction

Animal life has been all but destroyed in sudden, planetwide exterminations five times in Earth’s history. These are the so-called Big Five mass extinctions, commonly defined as any event in which more than half of the earth’s species go extinct in fewer than a million years or

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