Volcanoes: A Forge for Climate Change | Peter Ward | TEDxWilmington

Dr. Peter Langdon Ward worked 27 years as a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey, being featured on Good Morning America and winning two national awards for explaining science to non-scientists. Nine years ago, while in retirement, he found reliable data suggesting that volcanic eruptions not only cool the earth for a few years, something that is well known, but also can warm the earth substantially. How could this be? Realizing the importance of figuring this out, he set off on a full-time quest trying to understand in detail how volcanism has controlled climate throughout Earth history, throughout the evolution of our species, throughout written history, and why 2015 is the hottest year on record. Dr. Peter Langdon Ward worked 27 years as a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey, being featured on Good Morning America and winning two national awards for explaining science to non-scientists. Nine years ago, while in retirement, he found reliable data suggesting that volcanic eruptions not only cool the earth for a few years, something that is well known, but also can warm the earth substantially. How could this be? Realizing the importance of figuring this out, he set off on a full-time quest trying to understand in detail how volcanism has controlled climate throughout Earth history, throughout the evolution of our species, throughout written history, and why 2015 is the hottest year on record. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx