The Little Ice Age: A World Systems Approach Essays -- Climate Environ

The Little Ice Age: A World Systems Approach In today’s world, after more than a century of the internal combustion engine and the large-scale burning of fossil fuels, the climate has come to the forefront of public debate. As both sides use evidence from past climates to support their points, at the heart of this debate is history. For this reason, as well as for the political implications that the polemics of this issue engenders, objective science and objective historical study must figure prominently, however objectivity should not be subsumed for conformity. Debate is part of the process that brings science closer to truth. The study of climate is no different and the Little Ice Age is an area of study in which there is currently a healthy debate going on. Scholars’ opinions differ on numerous aspects of this period, even to the point of disputing its existence. Topics ranging from a definition of the characteristics of the period to its starting date, and its impacts on human society and hi story are all part of this debate. Among the multiplicity of issues surrounding the Little Ice Age, these are chief and, in order to follow a comprehensible thread, will be the focus of this paper. Describing and analyzing the major views relating to these issues (proposed by historians and non-historians alike) should provide a relatively full picture of the debate and shed light on current thought about the topic. The importance of climate to human history is an issue that has interested historians only relatively recently. According to M.J. Ingram, â€Å"(t)he majority of historians have been content largely to ignore† the implications of long-term climatic change on human societies.[1] Year-to-y... ...s the ‘Little Ice Age’?† in T. Mikame (ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on the â€Å"Little Ice Age† Climate. (Tokyo, Department of Geography, Tokyo Metropolitan University 1992) 3 [11] Landsberg 62 [12] Landsberg 62 [13] Landsberg 62 [14] Jean M. Grove. The Little Ice Age. (London and New York, Routledge 1988) 394 [15] Grove, â€Å"The Initiation of the ‘Little Ice Age’ in Regions Round the North Atlantic† 63 [16] Grove The Little Ice Age 260 [17] Ibid 416 [18] Ibid 416 [19] Ibid 391 [20] Grove â€Å"The Initiation of the ‘Little Ice Age’ in Regions Round the North Atlantic† 73 [21] Lamb 307 [22] Ibid 307 [23] Ibid 278 [24] Ibid 219 [25] Ibid 218 [26] Brian Fagan. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. (New York, Basic Books 2000) xviii [27] Ibid 58 [28] Ibid 165 [29] Ibid 48 [30] Ibid 59