By Jennifer Theurer
Eunice Newton Foote discovered that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas in 1856, but it wasn’t until John Tyndall made the same “discovery” three years later that it was adopted by the scientific community. Concordia-based author Lindsay H. Metcalf wants to write Foote back into history with her newest book, “Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights.”
Metcalf read an article about Foote in November 2021 and immediately saw a life that needed to be documented more. Marketed as a young-adult novel, “Footeprint” reads like a diary of poetic verses that can be easily absorbed by readers of all ages.
“I normally write children’s picture books,” Metcalf said. “There are so many layers to her story. She is not only an inventor, she’s not only the discoverer of this carbon dioxide monumental discovery, but she’s also part of the [Sir] Isaac Newton family.”
Foote’s parents were scientists and sent their daughter to the Troy Female Seminary, the first school to offer science to girls in the early 1800s. Her time at the seminary gave Foote the critical thinking skills to make her discovery later. She was studying the effect greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, would have on the atmosphere at the same time her husband, Elisha Foote, was commissioner of the United States Patent Office.
“You’ve got industrialization popping up around her and the very genesis of fossil fuels,” Metcalf said. “Her husband is approving a lot of the inventions that created climate change.”
Metcalf wonders what the world would look like today if women had been taken seriously back then.
“It all connects to today, but it’s important to look back so that we can think critically about things that are happening today,” Metcalf said.
“Footeprint” will be officially released on February 10 and sold anywhere books are available. The Cloud County Tourism office will eventually be selling signed copies of the book and Metcalf has several events planned through February and March, including a February 15 engagement at The Learning Tree in Prairie Village, Kansas.
If anyone wants to learn more about “Footeprint” or any of Metcalf’s children’s books, they can visit her website at lindsayhmetcalf.com.
