The Little Ice Age and Climate Change Today
The Little Ice Age and Climate Change Today
Roland Ward
ES117-2A-77: Natural Disasters
8 December 2012
Keith Earnshaw
Abstract The little ice age gave us a glimpse as to how climate change can affect our society. This is especially important today as we stand on the brink of another environmental catastrophe. The acceleration of greenhouse gas output has irrevocably changed how mankind affects the environment. The lessons that we can learn from studying the little ice age may lead us to understanding what we can do stop this process.
Keywords: Climate change, volcanic eruption, global cooling, Maunder minimum
The Little Ice Age and Climate Change Today Few things can give us a glimpse of what is to come like looking at what has happened before. As humanity stands at the cusp of another shift in the climate, we are faced with consequences of choices that we have made and even harder choices that we have yet to make. The little ice age changed the climate of the world in a short period of time geologically speaking and today we are changing the climate even faster. The little ice age is theorized to have occurred because of a confluence of multiple major natural events. It can be said that humanity’s industrialization along with a reversal of natural factors was a key in turning back the effects of the little ice age. We are already feeling the effects of longer, hotter seasons with droughts that are impacting world food supplies. Humanity must address its effect on the global climate and the best lessons to learn have already been taught in the period of time leading up to and during the little ice age. Ice ages come and ice ages go. This has been a normally occurring ebb and flow on the planet to maintain a balance. Normally these cycles take hundreds and thousands of years to begin and end. The period called the little ice age differed as greatly from previous cooling periods as the current warming
Roland Ward
ES117-2A-77: Natural Disasters
8 December 2012
Keith Earnshaw
Abstract The little ice age gave us a glimpse as to how climate change can affect our society. This is especially important today as we stand on the brink of another environmental catastrophe. The acceleration of greenhouse gas output has irrevocably changed how mankind affects the environment. The lessons that we can learn from studying the little ice age may lead us to understanding what we can do stop this process.
Keywords: Climate change, volcanic eruption, global cooling, Maunder minimum
The Little Ice Age and Climate Change Today Few things can give us a glimpse of what is to come like looking at what has happened before. As humanity stands at the cusp of another shift in the climate, we are faced with consequences of choices that we have made and even harder choices that we have yet to make. The little ice age changed the climate of the world in a short period of time geologically speaking and today we are changing the climate even faster. The little ice age is theorized to have occurred because of a confluence of multiple major natural events. It can be said that humanity’s industrialization along with a reversal of natural factors was a key in turning back the effects of the little ice age. We are already feeling the effects of longer, hotter seasons with droughts that are impacting world food supplies. Humanity must address its effect on the global climate and the best lessons to learn have already been taught in the period of time leading up to and during the little ice age. Ice ages come and ice ages go. This has been a normally occurring ebb and flow on the planet to maintain a balance. Normally these cycles take hundreds and thousands of years to begin and end. The period called the little ice age differed as greatly from previous cooling periods as the current warming
References: Zorich, Z. (2012 SEP) “Letter from Iceland: Surviving the Little Ice Age” Archeology Volume 65 #5 Retrieved from: Miller, G., et al (2012 JAN 30) Unusual volcanic episode rapidly triggered Little Ice Age, researchers find. American Geophysical Union newsletter AGU Release No. 12-05 Retrieved from: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0810/Alarms-sound-over-world-food-supply-as-drought-wilts-US-Corn-Belt Handwerk, B (2011 OCT 3) Little Ice Age Shrank Europeans, Sparked Wars Mandia, S. Professor (2011) The Little Ice Age in Europe. Mann, M. (2011) The Earth system: physical and chemical dimensions of global environmental change Retrieved from: