Globalization And Climate Change In Collapse, By Jared Diamond

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Collapse, written by Jared Diamond, poses his opinion on how human endeavors has impacted climate change throughout history. Diamond uses the Maori, located in humid New Zealand and the Europeans, to illustrate the influences of globalization. Before the Europeans arrived, the Maori rarely engaged in wars, due to the modesty of agriculture productivity and their staple crop of sweet potatoes. The Maori couldn’t grow enough sweet potatoes to feed distant marches or an army. Around 1815, however, the Europeans introduced potatoes, increasing Maori crop production. Maori tribes that did acquire potatoes and guns from the English decided to raid tribes hundreds of miles away that did not receive guns or potatoes yet. Doing so resulted in relief for pre-Maori warfare; Europeans transported their own native crops and introduced it to the Americas where there was a change of climates. The Greenland Norse colony, also known as the Vikings, is another group of people that influenced climate change through globalization. Erik the Red founded Greenland in 984 and led the first settlers to settle in Greenland from Iceland. Researchers studying Greenland ice cores convey that the climate was relatively mild when the Norse arrived. During the 1300s, they went through cold years and in the 1400s dove into the Little Ice Age, until the 1800s. Consequently, the Norse depleted their environmental resources, by stripping turf, …show more content…

The globalization of coal may be the top reason for climate change, especially in China. Particularly, burning coal is the biggest source greenhouse emissions. “China is currently building over 1 gigawatt of new coal plants every week.” 1 This is dangerous since those producing the coal, only use the energy and leave the carbon dioxide behind; dumping it into the atmosphere and increasing the greenhouse effect. As a result, the rise in temperature may

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