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Hydrogen Economy, Geothermal and Ocean Power, and Climate Change
Published in Roy L. Nersesian, Energy Economics, 2016
There have been significant changes to climate within recorded history. The period 900–1300 ce is called the Medieval Warm Period with a warming trend similar to what is happening now. Agricultural output soared, as did the human population by an estimated 40–60 million. Vineyards sprouted in England with 14 different varieties of grape, with English wine preferred over French wine in France! Greenland was not misnamed as some have thought by a real estate charlatan trying to induce prospective settlers to buy frozen land. In 985 ce Erik the Red led 25 ships with 500 settlers to found Hvalsey in southwest Greenland where there were thickets of six meter high birch trees. Hvalsey grew to 5,000 inhabitants where, as archeological evidence shows, they supported themselves for 300 years by growing food and crops for grazing herds of livestock, augmented by fishing and trading polar bear skins and walrus tusks.54
Drought, Climate Variability, and Implications for Water Supply and Management
Published in Bonnie G. Colby, Katharine L. Jacobs, Arizona Water Policy, 2010
Gregg Garfin, Michael A. Crimmins, Katharine L. Jacobs
The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is well reconstructed by trees because the index models soil moisture variations by integrating precipitation and temperature measurements, much as a tree integrates precipitation, temperature, and soil moisture in its annual growth. PDSI reconstructions by Cook et al. (2004) for the western United States illustrate an important lesson about increasing temperatures and severe sustained drought. Vast areas of the western United States experienced greater aridity and droughts more sustained and severe than the early twenty-first century drought during centuries characterized by greater warmth, such as during the medieval warm period. Such spatially extensive droughts probably stretched simultaneously across major western river basins, a phenomenon witnessed during the 1999–2004 western U.S. drought. Multi-proxy climate reconstructions, using information from tree rings (PDSI) and corals (ENSO), show that spatial variation in drought in the contiguous United States is due partly to the influence of frequent and persistent La Niña episodes, which result in characteristic patterns of drought across the southwestern United States (Cole et al. 2002). It should be noted, however, that not all droughts in the paleoclimate record were simultaneously and equally severe across Arizona.
Nature Technology Creation System
Published in Ryuzo Furukawa, Lifestyle and Nature, 2019
Another important thing we can learn from nature is the way in which the success of the Industrial Revolution was based on our separation from that very nature. Why did the anthropocentric technology which has invited a civilizational crisis develop to the extent we see today? And, what do we have to consider today in order to change the direction of technological development away from material desires towards the encouragement of spiritual or immaterial desires? To pursue these issues, we need to take a look at the development of modern technology in Europe which led to the birth of our present underground-resource-based civilization. From the 8th until the 13th century, Europe was in what is called the medieval warm period. Agriculture spread across the Alps into Western Europe, where technological innovation to utilize water and wind mills extensively continued. These technologies gradually became essential to the textile and steel industries and, as we shall see later, were an important factor in setting the direction towards the modern, Western European civilization in which man aims to conquer nature. The cooling of the European climate starting in the latter half of the 13th century, with a small intermission in the 16th century, reached a peak in the second half of the 17th century. Harvests in Europe around that time dropped drastically and the cooling triggered major famines. Around the year 1500, when the small ice age was at its height, the climate not only reduced agricultural productivity, but also caused the spreading of pests which, combined with the effect of numerous wars, led to sharp decreases in population. European society at that time, it is said, was on the verge of collapsing. On the other hand, a lack of labor led to the growth of livestock and dairy farming, and machines were introduced to make up for the lack of hands in agriculture and industry. Gradually, the idea that man was part of nature faded, and humans became increasingly removed from nature and, attempting to alter and reorganize nature artificially, aimed to become its conquerors. Such developments led to, and were further fueled by, Francis Bacon’s concept of human dominance over nature and Rene Descartes’ mechanistic worldview. This gave birth to a modern, Western philosophy justifying modern civilization and, in a concrete way, helped build a human empire enslaving nature.
The Holocene of Sweden – a review
Published in GFF, 2022
The Medieval Warm Period (MWP; or Medieval Climate Anomaly) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) are well-known concepts around the North Atlantic region where several records and proxies show a distinct warm period (MWP; c. 1150-650 cal a BP; c. 800–1300 CE;) followed by colder conditions (LIA; c. 650–50 cal a BP c. 1300–1900 CE). The most detailed and best-resolved record of the last millennium's climate in Sweden is probably the tree-ring record from Torneträsk, northern Sweden (Fig. 3). This high-latitude record shows a clear MWP around 1000 CE (c. 900–1100 CE; 1050–850 cal a BP), followed by a cooling trend until c. 1900 CE (Grudd 2008).