When we talk about climate change, we usually look up. But some of Earth’s most powerful climate controls are moving far below our feet.

In this episode of The Climate Translation, Dr. Mac explores the planet’s deep-sea conveyor belt, part of the slow, geological carbon cycle that has helped regulate Earth’s temperature for billions of years. He explains how ocean sediments, tectonic plates, and volcanic processes quietly move carbon in and out of the atmosphere over immense spans of time.

The key translation is speed. While Earth’s natural carbon system works on million-year timelines, human activity is releasing buried carbon in mere decades. Understanding this contrast helps explain why today’s warming is overwhelming systems that were never built to respond this fast, and why cutting emissions matters more than trying to out-engineer geology.

CC0 Music from Charles Korpics - I want to Live! (Again)

“Nature will adapt” sounds reassuring, but what if the problem isn’t resilience, but speed?

In this episode of The Climate Translation, Dr. Mac examines how plants and animals respond to climate change, and why many are failing to keep up. He explains how adaptation, migration, and evolution actually work, and why modern warming is happening far faster than biology is designed to handle.

Using clear analogies and real-world examples, this episode explores the growing barriers wildlife faces: fragmented landscapes, mistimed seasons, and hard physiological limits that no amount of resilience can overcome. The result is a planet that has become a high-stakes obstacle course, where survival increasingly depends on how fast conditions are changing, not how tough nature is.

CC0 Music from Charles Korpics - I want to Live! (Again)

Earth stays livable not by accident, but through a delicate balance of energy moving in and out of the atmosphere.

In this episode of The Climate Translation, Dr. Mac breaks down what greenhouse gases actually do, and why they function less like a “blanket” and more like a planetary thermostat. Using clear analogies and familiar comparisons, he explains why some gases affect temperature while others don’t, how small changes in atmospheric chemistry can have outsized effects, and why balance matters more than simple labels like “good” or “bad.”

This episode helps clarify common misconceptions about the greenhouse effect, explains why Earth sits between the extremes of Mars and Venus, and gives listeners practical language for explaining climate physics clearly, calmly, and accurately to others.

CC0 Music from Charles Korpics - I want to Live! (Again)