Time denial, / rooted in a very human combination of pride and existential dread, / is perhaps the most common and forgivable form / of what might be called chronophobia.

But there are other, more toxic varieties / that work together with the less harmful kind / to create a prevalent, stubborn, and dangerous temporal illiteracy / in our society.

We in the twenty-first century / would be shocked / if an educated adult were unable to identify / the continents on a world map, / yet we are quite comfortable / with widespread ignorance / about anything but the most superficial highlights / from the planet's long history: / perhaps the Bering Strait, dinosaurs, or Pangaea.

Most humans have no sense of temporal proportion / ─ the durations of the great chapters in Earth's history, / the rates of change during previous intervals of environmental instability, / the intrinsic timescales of "natural capital" / like groundwater systems.

As a species, / we have a childlike disinterest and partial disbelief / in the time before our appearance on Earth.

With no appetite for stories lacking humans, / many people simply can't be bothered / with natural history.