by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Does this mean that Climate Change doe not exists, the one caused by human activity? No, it does not...
The recent study of tree rinds offers a link between changes to the climate and the rise and fall of human societies. What does that mean for our world? Could it also mean the fall of some of the “civilizations” of today?
An extensive study of tree growth rings says there could be a link between the rise and fall of past civilizations and sudden shifts in Europe’s climate.
A team of researchers based their findings on data from 9,000 wooden artifacts from the past 2,500 years and they found that periods of warm, wet summers coincided with prosperity, while political turmoil occurred during times of climate instability.
The findings of the report have been published online by the journal Science.
“Looking back on 2,500 years, there are examples where climate change impacted human history,” co-author Ulf Buntgen, a paleoclimatologist at the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape, told the Science website.
The team of researchers capitalized on a system used to date material unearthed during excavations.
Archaeologists have developed oak ring width chronologies from Central Europe that cover nearly the entire Holocene and have used them for the purpose of dating artifacts, historical buildings, antique artwork and furniture and the chronologies of living and relict oaks may reflect distinct patterns of summer precipitation and drought.
The team looked at how weather over the past couple of centuries affected living trees’ growth rings and this has shown that during good growing seasons, when water and nutrients are in plentiful supply, trees form broad rings, with their boundaries relatively far apart.
But in unfavorable conditions, such as drought, the rings grow in much tighter formation.
However, and that must also be considered, they also do that in colder condition and this can be seen in the difference of the tightness of tree rings in oak (and other woods) from northern areas and those further south. In warmer areas the rings are wide apart – showing quicker growth – than those in colder climes.
This coincides with my held belief, and the proof seems to be emerging for this now, that a period of cooling arrived in the time of the sixth century leading, as a main reason, to the Romans leaving Britain.
This cold period was followed a couple of centuries later by a serious warm period during which the Vikings came to Greenland – then covered in trees – and to Newfoundland, which the called “Vinland” because of the sweet red grapes growing there.
It would appear that wet and warm summers occurred during periods of Roman and medieval prosperity. Increased climate variability from 250-600 AD coincided with the demise of the western Roman empire and the turmoil of the migration period.
Signs have spoken for along time already, though for some reasons in the last decades one has tried to discount that for the fact that the large migrations of peoples were due to changing climate and especially in regards to the great migration the fact that areas in the East were getting very cold again.
It coincides with the Romans abandoning Britain and, to some extent, Gaul, heading back to Italy in a hurry. Probably also due to the fact that the legions were required to defend the nation per se.
None of this, however, does away with the fact that we are facing a serious climate change right now and the possibility that the current climate issues are, to a great degree, also are as a result of our activities.
On the other hand, maybe, and that too has been suggested, some of the previous climate change periods may have been due to human actions too. Chopping down forests, more or less wholesale, changes micro-climates and the general climate without doubt.
So, what lies in our future now? Can we do anything about it bar preparing for the change?
I don't have a crystal ball – actually I do but the prediction thing does not work in this case must – and thus anything I may say (or others) are nothing but predictions and guesswork.
However, as to the “can we do anything about it” question the answer must be “let's do whatever we can do” and that mean first and foremost changing our consumption habits and especially the way we exploit the Planet and the way we use energy.
The we must get back to restoring our woodlands and forests but not as nature reserves not to be touched but as working woods from which we will take materials to use.
We must get away from plastics and back to natural materials for our needs and that includes also the use of animals hides for leather, amongst other things. Unnatural materials, as far as possible, must, once again, be a no-no and be consigned to the history books.
We must reconsider everything that we do and consider our impact on the Planet. And while we may not be able to stop the climate changing we may be able to mitigate some of the impact and, at the same time, prepare how to overcome it and live with it until it changes back the other way.
© 2011
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