"How I Learned to Read Rocks – my journey to becoming an Earth scientist"
"Growing up in New York City, what geology there was lay buried under concrete, rocks were specimens in a Natural History Museum, and enjoying ‘the great outdoors’ meant a stroll in Central Park. Studying Earth Sciences at university felt like an exciting and slightly daunting leap into the unknown. In hindsight, this instinct to push towards the edge of my comfort zone has shaped much of my research career.
"My primary research focus is the carbon cycle and the causes and consequences of rapid climate change and mass extinction events in the geologic past. Like modern global warming, many of these geologic events were caused by carbon-based greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Unlike modern global warming, however, these past climate change ‘experiments’ are complete, allowing us to reconstruct how the Earth system and the carbon cycle respond to carbon emissions — offering a window into our long-term future.
"Along the way I have learned new tools to address these questions, moving through palaeontology and geochemistry to my current focus: Earth system modelling. Over the years, I have also had the pleasure of pursuing a motley collection of interdisciplinary side projects, working with collaborators ranging from microbial and animal ecology, to chemical engineering and physics, to education and gender studies.
"Decades on, I still often seem to be drawn towards research questions and approaches at my periphery. In this lecture, I will share some personal research highlights along my journey."
Associate Professor
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Dr Greene is a palaeoclimatologist, geobiologist, and Earth system modeller studying the biogeochemical cycling of carbon between the atmosphere, the ocean, and marine sediments.
