Episode 14: The Hottest Holocene

Created, narrated, and produced by Professor Dagomar Degroot of Georgetown University, The Climate Chronicles reveals how climate change shaped humanity’s past, and explores what history can tell us about the future of global warming. With clear, dramatic storytelling, each episode brings history to life through vivid storytelling and cutting-edge science. In the third episode of our third season, Into the Holocene, Professor Degroot asks a simple question: when was the last time that the Earth was as hot as it is today? It may be a simple question, but it has a complicated answer - one that touches on everything from schemes for nuclear missile silos in the Greenland Ice Sheet at the height of the Cold War, to ancient computers in long-forgotten shipwrecks. Some evidence suggests that, in the early or mid Holocene, Earth was just as hot as it is right now, but other evidence tells the opposite story. The answer to this "conundrum" may be just within reach . . . and there are few more important riddles to solve in climate science.

Season three of The Climate Chronicles takes listeners on an immersive journey through the remarkable changes in climate and human culture that shaped the early history of the Holocene, the geological epoch in which humans became the dominant species on our planet. It zooms in on small communities and follows continental trends across thousands of years, all while unpacking the creative detective work that distinguishes the sciences of the past.

For an episode trailer and a transcript complete with citations, as well as maps, graphs, infographics, and other images, visit TheClimateChronicles.com.