{"id":3923382,"date":"2025-12-31T19:04:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/ancient-climate-change-gives-scientists-vital-clues-as-to-how-our-society-could-adapt-today\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T19:04:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:04:02","slug":"ancient-climate-change-gives-scientists-vital-clues-as-to-how-our-society-could-adapt-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/ancient-climate-change-gives-scientists-vital-clues-as-to-how-our-society-could-adapt-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient climate change gives scientists vital clues as to how our society could adapt today"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Just as there are those who still believe the Earth is flat, there are those who refuse to acknowledge that climate change is real and that it will harm our modern society. But a new study of ancient climate change offers even more proof that we had better prepare for negative effects.<\/p>\n

A team of scientists from around the globe participated in a study of Amazonian peoples who lived at the time of the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which occurred from about AD 900 to 1250, and the Little Ice Age, 1450-1850.<\/p>\n

The Medieval Climate Anomaly saw a period of warming similar to that of the 20th and 21st centuries, only warming today is much worse and caused by humans. Scientists have offered several theories as to why this past warming occurred, but they all agree that it happened and it certainly made an impact on many different cultures.<\/p>\n

The Little Ice Age, on the other hand, was a long period of global cooling that was caused by volcanic eruptions<\/a> such as Krakatoa in the 13th and 15th centuries.<\/p>\n

Both of these periods of global climate change caused mass migrations, disrupted food production and resulted in natural disasters that made some cultures disappear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere we getting a window into that in prehistoric Amazonia? I think so,\u201d University of Utah professor Mitchell Power said. \u201cSo it\u2019s kind of a one-two punch: if the climate doesn\u2019t get you, it might be the thousands of bodies that show up that you have to feed because extreme drought forced them out of their homelands.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Science Daily<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The report details migrations and conflict that took place potentially in response to extreme changes in climate. It notes that the demise of mound centers in the Guianas coast around the year 1300 CE, for example, could have occurred because of a prolonged drought that the researchers documented \u2014 or the expansion of a culture called the Koriabo \u201ccould have been responsible for conflicts leading to the \u2026 demise, or at least accelerating a process triggered by climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flexibility, or lack thereof, of these systems explains the decline of some Amazonian societies and not others \u2026\u201d the report says. Societies that collapsed were at the end of periods of growth, accumulation, restructuring and renewal. \u201cThose societies had accumulated rigidities, and were less able to absorb unforeseen disturbances resulting in dramatic transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Fascinating new study: well before Europeans arrived in the Americas people in the Amazon were significantly impacted by climate change. “Groups w\/o social classes + groups that practiced more sustainable farming practices were able to successfully adapt.” https:\/\/t.co\/aV3RvLazn5<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/beGLuYulPQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Richard Pearshouse (@RPearshouse) June 18, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n