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Full Description
Global warming and the future of the climate is one of the greatest challenges of our time, but what do we know about climate variations 500 years ago, or 5000 years ago? How can we know anything at all about the history of weather? What impact have climate changes had on human prosperity and the spirit of invention? In this major new book Wolfgang Behringer introduces us to the latest historical research on the development of the earth's climate. He focuses above all on the cultural reactions to climate change through the ages, showing how even minor changes in the climate sometimes resulted in major social, political and religious upheavals. By examining how our predecessors responded to climate changes, Behringer provides us with a fresh basis for thinking about how we might address the serious climatic challenges we face today.
Contents
Preface vii Introduction 1
1. What Do We Know about the Climate? 8
Sources of Climate History 8
Causes of Climate Change 14
The Palaeoclimate since the Formation of the Planet 20
2. Global Warming: The Holocene 31
Children of the Ice Age 31
Global Warming and Civilization 39
From Roman Optimum to Medieval Warm Period 60
3. Global Cooling: The Little Ice Age 85
The Concept of the Little Ice Age 85
The Changing Environment 88
Dance of Death 103
Winter Blues 115
4. Cultural Consequences of the Little Ice Age 121
The Wrathful God 121
Sin Economics as the Motor of Change 133
The Cool Sun of Reason 146
5. Global Warming: The Modern Warm Period 168
Apparent Uncoupling from the Forces of Nature 168
The Discovery of Global Warming 182
Reactions to Climate Change 191
6. Epilogue: Sins against the Environment and Greenhouse Climate 206
Notes 218
Further reading 262
Index 264
