We are a group of researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, interested in understanding long-term patterns of global environmental change. We use clues stored in the environment, such as fossilised plants and animals, to build a picture of past climates and environments to understand how they change over time. The present is the key to the past and the past is the key to the future – by understanding how climates and environments have changed in the past we can better predict how they will change in the future.