Few people realize the time scale of our planet's long history, and this is at the root of many of the environmental problems we create. It’s easy for us to imagine a period of nine days—that’s how long a drop of water remains in the Earth’s atmosphere. But a period of hundreds of years - the time a carbon dioxide molecule spends in the atmosphere - is almost beyond human understanding. Our everyday life is determined by processes that began thousands and millions of years ago, and the consequences of what we do, in turn, will outlive us. The period of the Earth's existence may seem unfathomably long in comparison with the brevity of human life, but such an attitude towards time does not allow us to feel our deep connection with the history of the Earth and appreciate the scale of our impact on it. Understanding the rhythms of the distant past and the perception of time through the eyes of geologists can force us to -take a fresh look at the planet and learn to act taking into account the interests of many future generations.