The Little Ice Age : How Climate Made History 1300-1850
The Little Ice Age : How Climate Made History 1300-1850 – Review
A few years ago historians suggesting history was driven by climate produced a storm of controversy. Global warming, so clearly impacted, if not driven, by humanity is eventually leading to better acceptance of the contact of weather and society. Fagan’s account of a stage of mildly cooler conditions proves how a little change can have great impact on the individual situation. It takes little variation in "temperature", he shows, to change examples of rainfall, crop success or failure and resulting public disruption. A part of the Little Ice Age may not have eventually brought the end of the French monarchy, he notes. Crop failures compounded with a selfish aristocracy establishes capped a long time of discontent with decapitation. Reading Fagan’s version of the effect of climate over half a millennium can be a overwhelming task. Although the focus on the period from 1300 to 1850 is largely European, that’s merely due to the extensive written records held there. The variations in climate were global and Fagan rushes you from place to place to demonstrate the effect of trends and "weather events". Scampering about the planet in time and space can be particularly disconcerting, but there’s a reason for his peripatetic approach. He wants you to prevent completely falling into the trap our ancestors did – mistakenly thinking that a few freak storms or arid years will smooth out over time. If these events impose on a weak common framework, disaster can, as it has before, follow. In recent times, with our huge total population, he reminds us, "smoothing out" is unlikely. Without the means to counter the effects on group of global warming, the result will be far more serious than ridding the world of another monarch. Fagan’s challenge to the reader is far greater than tripping about the globe. He wants you to understand the large type of slight changes inherent in universal weather patterns. A minor change now means the demise of a complete fishery industry. Small drops in temperature there result in extensive drought, population dislocation or deprivation. Governments, and their supporting societies, want to instill programmes that can adjust to these changes. Social adjustments that modify lifestyle or inhibit distant agreements of prosperity in order to provide survival mechanisms must be fully implemented. Short-term benefit programmes must be viewed with suspicion, he reminds us. Too many have already been proven illusory, and must not be frequently repeated. And wholly unexpected events, such as volcanoes, must be factored into the planning. The book’s cap, "The Year Without A Summer", has been shown to be a big time in the story of North America. When an eruption half-way around the world starts to crop failure in New England, the need for planning becomes simply evident. Today’s global warming suggests many little volcanoes are compromising climate stability. All those little volcanoes are originally called "automobiles". With a utterly captivating theme and an dramatic prose style, this book is an excellent widely read. Fagan’s use of graphics and maps develops an already sufficient volume. Although the title creates the impression that it’s a piece of history, Fagan demonstrates plainly that conditions long ago are exemplary for recent times. We may have mechanised farming, for example, but the world lives on conditions no less marginal than they were in Medieval times. The same triggers, volcanic eruptions and, most importantly, the North Atlantic Oscillation controlling Europe’s rainfall, El Nino and other anomalies, are set to invoke changeable conditions. He explains these forces with skill and clarity. You will learn much more than some historical pedantry from this book. If you fail to actually read it, your children, huddled around a pale fire, may ask you why. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]