Environmental Systems Studies by Hidefumi Imura

Author:Hidefumi Imura
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Japan, Tokyo

6.1.5 Links Between Climate and the Industrial Revolution

During the Medieval Warm Period, the Vikings of Scandinavia became active and discovered Greenland and the American continent. The cooling of the climate during the Little Ice Age was a huge blow to agriculture. Also, in China and surrounding areas, climate change forced northern nomads to descend southward in response to a lack of feed grass for their animals, and this had a major impact on Chinese history and dynastic change.

There is an argument that the cooler climate of the modern Little Ice Age was a trigger for the Industrial Revolution. In England and other European countries, wood fuel was needed for warmth in the cooler climate conditions, which led to the clearing of their forests. Thus, to find a replacement for firewood, it was necessary to dig for coal, and this led to the invention of the steam locomotive, which was used to remove water in coal mines as well as to transport the coal to industrial sites.

So cooling may have brought on the Industrial Revolution, and the massive use of fossil fuels has brought on global warming. There is a profound connection between climate and history. The three great civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China were the products of climate change. All together, the global ecosystem and the human activities that depend on it make up one interactive system. Climate warming and cooling, and the changes attendant in the climate such as changes in precipitation, aridity, and humidity—these have had huge impacts on human activities. To adapt to climate conditions, humans changed their lifestyles and societal systems and developed technologies. The very history of humanity—the social ­disruptions, human migrations, wars, and so on—is a product of repeated cycles of climate processes over hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of years [4].

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.