Do you know the dinosaur “Iani smithi”? Probably not, because it was described for the first time a few weeks ago, and even in the SZ science department, this ancient beast is largely unknown. Paleontologists recently unearthed its remains in what is now the US state of Utah. And when I read about it, the first question that came to my mind was: Why would anyone give a dinosaur such a strange name?
The answer to this is the reason why this “Iani smithi” is honored in this newsletter: The excavators named the animal after a drastic climate change in the past. They referred to a paleontologist named Smith and to Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings. Because the dinosaur, which lived around 99 million years ago, had not had a good time. At that time, the average temperatures rose as did the sea level, the animals had to cope with it or died out. In “Iani smithi”, the paleontologists noticed changes in the teeth, thanks to which it was apparently able to chew tougher plants than its ancestors; they interpret this as adaptation to the changing climate.
Maybe I’m reading too much into the choice of name, but I think it’s a good sign that there is now a climate crisis dinosaur, so to speak. With all the bad climate news, awareness of the crisis is apparently growing – even in disciplines that have little to do with today’s climate change.
It is high time that the climate crisis moved more into focus. As the latest data shows, Europe is already registering an increase of 2.3 degrees. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear to what extent the global climate is being thrown out of balance. As my colleague Benjamin von Brackel explains, global warming is paradoxically leading to higher layers of the atmosphere getting colder – but this can also have devastating consequences for people (SZ Plus).
Irrespective of this, the federal government is in the process of watering down its climate protection law – and the media still give comparatively little space to the escalating crisis. Vera Schroeder recently explained why this could be (SZ Plus). Spoilers: A little more awareness of how dramatic the situation is wouldn’t hurt. And, as the British astronomer Martin Rees told my colleague Christoph von Eichhorn: A bit more “cathedral mentality” would also be helpful (SZ Plus). He means the lost feeling that it is worth thinking long-term and tackling large projects.
By the way, “Iani smithi” didn’t make it back then. The species became extinct long before an asteroid hit Earth around 66 million years ago. The specimen found was probably one of the last of its kind.
(This text is from the weekly Newsletter climate friday you here for free can order.)