History Can Teach Us About Preparing for Climate Impacts

The Little Ice Age in the 17th century brought a period of deep cold to the northern hemisphere between the 1620s to the late 1690s, and the associated extreme events resulted in floods, droughts and harvest failures.  A recent New York Times Op-ed piece by historian, Geoffrey Parker at Ohio State, points to this well-documented time in human history as a period that took a huge toll on communities. Indeed, the combination of extreme weather, war, and rebellions killed millions of people.  But thanks to advancements in earth science, we know a lot about what the future of earth’s climate portends. He urges us to prepare accordingly.
To read the NYT piece, click here.