Riley Black: “When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals and Evolution’s Greatest Romance”

Let’s take a break from “rage Friday” and enjoy a “science Friday” instead! Join us on April 11 as we welcome special guest Riley Black, science journalist and the author of  When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals and Evolution’s Greatest Romance, winner of the 2024 A Friend of Darwin Award, and The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, winner of the 2023 AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books.

Click here to watch on Secular AZ’s YouTube channel.

Black’s latest book is described as a tale of “evolutionary romance between plants and animals, played out over hundreds of millions of years. Primordial coal swamps crawling with giant insects, hungry dinosaurs munching on prehistoric horsetails, sabercats rolling in ancient catnip, and even our own early human ancestors clambering through the trees, When the Earth Was Green draws from the latest scientific discoveries to lushly reconstruct critical moments of connection that have shaped life on Earth.”

Riley Black (she/they) has been a fossil fanatic since the time she was knee-high to a Stegosaurus. Her evolution into a science writer and amateur paleontologist was only natural. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, right in the center of dinosaur country, they chase tales of vanished lives from museum collections to remote badlands.

A prolific writer, Riley’s byline has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, Slate, Smithsonian, Nature, Science, atmos, Popular Science, New Scientist, SIERRA, and many more. She’s also been a frequent guest on radio programs such as Science Friday and All Things Considered, and Riley was among the paleontologists highlighted in the NOVA documentaries “Alaskan Dinosaurs” and “Dinosaur Apocalypse.” In a dream come true, Riley was also the “resident paleontologist” and consultant to the Jurassic World franchise. Her expertise has also led Riley to speak at a variety of venues from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History to Dinosaur National Monument, most prominently delivering the 2022 keynote at tthe he annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.