The Little Ice Age: A World Systems Approach
In today’s world, after more than a century of the internal combustion engine and the large-scale burning of fossil fuels, the climate has come to the forefront of public debate. As both sides use evidence from past climates to support their points, at the heart of this debate is history. For this reason, as well as for the political implications that the polemics of this issue engenders, objective science and objective historical study must figure prominently, however objectivity should not be subsumed for conformity. Debate is part of the process that brings science closer to truth. The study of climate is no different and the Little Ice Age is an area of study in which there is currently a healthy debate going on. Scholars’ opinions differ on numerous aspects of this period, even to the point of disputing its existence. Topics ranging from a definition of the characteristics of the period to its starting date, and its impacts on human society and history are all part of this debate. Among the multiplicity of issues surrounding the Little Ice Age, these are chief and, in order to follow a comprehensible thread, will be the focus of this paper. Describing and analyzing the major views relating to these issues (proposed by historians and non-historians alike) should provide a relatively full picture of the debate and shed light on current thought about the topic.
The importance of climate to human history is an issue that has interested historians only relatively recently. According to M.J. Ingram, “(t)he majority of historians have been content largely to ignore” the implications of long-term climatic change on human societies.[1] Year-to-y...
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...s the ‘Little Ice Age’?” in T. Mikame (ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on the “Little Ice Age” Climate. (Tokyo, Department of Geography, Tokyo Metropolitan University 1992) 3
[11] Landsberg 62
[12] Landsberg 62
[13] Landsberg 62
[14] Jean M. Grove. The Little Ice Age. (London and New York, Routledge 1988) 394
[15] Grove, “The Initiation of the ‘Little Ice Age’ in Regions Round the North Atlantic” 63
[16] Grove The Little Ice Age 260
[17] Ibid 416
[18] Ibid 416
[19] Ibid 391
[20] Grove “The Initiation of the ‘Little Ice Age’ in Regions Round the North Atlantic” 73
[21] Lamb 307
[22] Ibid 307
[23] Ibid 278
[24] Ibid 219
[25] Ibid 218
[26] Brian Fagan. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. (New York, Basic Books 2000) xviii
[27] Ibid 58
[28] Ibid 165
[29] Ibid 48
[30] Ibid 59
In his piece on climate change, Richard Lindzen addresses his stance on the heated debate of global warming. He claims that there is, in fact, no ongoing catastrophic temperature increase. Lindzen, a Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a recipient of the Jule Charney award from the American Meteorological Society (Richard Lindzen), believes that the earth goes through natural phases of warming and cooling. In this piece, he examines why he believes people have a false conception of Earth’s climate shifts.
Americas by 14,000 ago” (O’Brien 12), after large portions of North America encountered the last ice age, which
... and the collection of wild plant foods. This variety may be the result of adaptations to changed ecological conditions associated with the retreat of glaciers, the growth of forests in Europe and deserts in N Africa, and the disappearance of the large game of the Ice Age. Characteristic of the period were hunting and fishing settlements along rivers and on lake shores, where fish and mollusks were abundant.
...Clague, John J., Luckman, Brian H., Wiles, Gregory C. “Tree-Ring Dating of the Nineteenth-Century Advance of Brady Glacier and the Evolution of Two Ice- Marginal Lakes, Alaska.” The Holocene 21.4 (2001): 641-649. Sage Journals. Web. 9. Feb. 2014.
Crosby, A. (1986). Ecological imperialism the biological expansion of Europe. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
How did the Atlantic System affect Europe, Africa, and the Americas? (The Earth and Its Peoples, 500)
Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism The Biological Expansion of Europe 900-1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Wood, Michael. In Search of the Dark Ages. Oxford, England: Facts on File, 1987. Print.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s fisheries might start to be dated in a period not too distant from that Age of Discovery years, about five centuries ago, and since this period it had been performed an important role in both economic and socio-cultural structure of Atlantic Canada. Among several species, northern cods performed one of the main sources of food for both populations from Atlantic Canada and Eastern European countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, and principally England (Higgins, Lifestyle of Fishers, 1600-1900, 2008).
The numerous ice ages documented on this planet that have shaped its contours, offers us incredible insight on many of the factors that have made this planet the way we see it today. But the great thing about glaciers and ice caps being much older than the human race, is that scientists are able to distinguish much information and characteristics of the past. And by understanding the past, we gain a much better perspective of the future: what we h...
Amos, Jonathan. “Deep Ice tells Long Climate Story.” BBC News. BBC News. 9/4/2006. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.
21,000 years ago, the Last Glacial Maximum, or LGM, occurred. It was the most recent period in climate history where ice sheets were at their peak size. This era “represents the nearest of a series of past climatic extremes characterizing the waxing and waning of Quaternary ice ages and as such serves as an excellent testing ground for assessment of sensitivity of the Earth’s climatic system,” (814, MAROGT). Due to this sensitivity of the climatic system, when data modeling global climates it is easier to see the individual effects of various external forcings (factors that alter the climate) when they are manipulated. This makes the Last Glacial Maximum ideal for testing, and it can be essential to global climate data modeling, including our
As time has progressed, the effect of human activity on Earth has lead to a shift in the way our climates now operate. More recently in humanity’s history, global warming has become an imminent source of worry for the future. The cause of climate change on the planet is directly linked to industrialization and the acute exploitation of fossil fuels. In relation to sociology, globalization is a contributor to the variance in climate, changing how the world operates on a global scale. The choices made by those in power, more specifically those who hold high ranking political positions, are considerably influential to the Earth’s future. While some people may attribute climate change solely to the ice age cycle and deny the very the existence
Just a couple weeks ago, we were complaining how winter was so cold and how it would never end in Canada; but imagine living in the glacial period, where there was a time when glaciers, large masses of ice, covered a huge portion of the Earth’s surface. Studies show that the polar ice caps, as we know them today used to cover approximately 30% of the Earth during our last Ice Age. The Earth remained in this state for thousands and thousands of years. Cold, right? According to geologists, there have been an approximate total of 5 major ice ages. They began appearing roughly 2, 300, 000 years ago, up until the most recent one, approximately 10,000 years ago; it was the ice age period/glacial period, and that’s was exactly what happened. Ice Ages are points in time when the temperatures around the world, including the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth, were cold consistently for a span of over multiple thousand years. Unlike the average temperature of 220C we have now, the ice ages were much colder, having an average of approximately 50C.
middle of paper ... ... The Web. 13 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Dinosaurs: Climate Change and Biodiversity."