Climate Change: The Past Is The Key To The Present

As a prelude to the re-launching of a very modified and updated Exmouth Dinosaur Trail, the Town Team (who have responsibility for this) organised an evening talk on 17 March 2022 to invited quests from the local community.

Those attending included councillors and representatives of educational institutions. The idea was to enhance the understanding of the importance of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, not only within a national and local context, but also highlighting its importance on a global scale. One of the key elements within the talks content is how, in the present day, we have much to learn from events of the past and in particular climate change.

This turns on its head the well-known quote by the 19th century academic Sir Charles Lyell in his book Principles of Geology that "The present is the key to the past €, and perhaps we should now be asking "Is the past the key to the present? €

Included on the evening were ten tables displaying a variety of specimens of both rocks and fossils from the entire length of the coast, both in actual distance on the ground (some 95 miles) but also across 185 million years or so of geological time. Illuminated information boards also provided those attending with factual information about the incredible story that our World Heritage Site has to tell.

Special thanks should go to Liz Oram (Town Team member) who worked tirelessly to make this event happen, and who continues to work just as hard to ensure the successful re-launch of the dinosaur trail later this year.

By Chris Woodward, Jurassic Coast Ambassador