Earth's Warm Sweet Spot
One evening, I watched a fascinating documentary about the ancestors of North America. Not the migration from Asia 13,000 years ago, but from southern Europe a few thousand years prior (see link 4). After watching the film, I realized how precious and grateful I was to be able to live in this place - in this time. My topic concentrates on why we should be grateful for the climate we have.
We are in, what I call, the sweet spot of Earth's glacial cycles. The reason I say this is clear. Mankind has been able to populate and survive over virtually most of the earth. It's not impressive until you consider that this hasn't always been the case in earth's climate history.
120,000 years ago, the earth's glacial pattern was very much like today (see link 1 below). However, about 60,000 and 20,000 years ago, ice sheets (over a hundred feet thick) covered huge swaths of the northern hemisphere. During these periods, it would have been unthinkable for mammals to survive in those areas. A few basic scientific reasons explain why there are cycles of disappearing and recovering ice sheets (see link 2), but that is not what I wish to discuss.
I wish to compare today's climate with Europe during the Medieval period. It will be a good example of large temperature extremes in the modern era, and the effects on a society.
The Medieval period had what was called the Little Ice Age. It occurred between 1300 and 1850 AD. Winters were far harsher than previously experienced and since then. I won't go into why this occurred, but would rather discuss the effects of the drastic temperature drop. There were a few years of warmth, but on the whole it was a dreadful time for survival.
Effects of Medieval cold weather: (See link 3)
Famine. cold weather and torrential rains decimated crops and livestock across Europe. The recent addition of the potato was one of the hardiest crops, but even the potato couldn't survive the harshest of winters.
Disease. A weakened human immune system and increasing rat population instigated an outbreak of the bubonic plague (transmitted by flea infested rats). Also known as the Black Death, it took a heavy death toll on Europe, North Africa and Central Asia. It killed an estimated 75 million people.
Political upheaval. Class warfare and political strife destabilized formerly prosperous countries as millions of people starved. One of the spillover effects was the 30 year war, which fueled civil discontent and weakened European economies.
General discontent. Many Europeans spent their summers around the fire due to lowered summer temperatures.
An illness called St. Anthony's Fire affected whole villages. They would suffer from convulsions, hallucinations, gangrenous rotting of the extremities, and even death.
Grain, if stored in cool, damp conditions, developed a fungus known as ergot blight and also fermented just enough to produce a drug similar to LSD.
Wine drinking was not even a relief, because grape production dropped to as low as 20%.
Weather:
Sea storms were fierce and the advancement of sea packs restricted normal ship passage. The cooler temperatures forced cod (a staple for European diet) further out to sea, making it more difficult for fisherman to catch a reliable food source.
Effects of Today's warm weather:
Agriculture: Stability of a warmer climate dictates longer growing seasons and more productive crops.
Health: Warmer weather means fewer illnesses and death. Science, in the last several hundred years (especially recent decades), has led to advancements in medicine, and ultimately longer lifespans.
Economic stability: With generally warmer conditions, less funds are needed to survive harsh winters (i.e. cheaper fuel costs, conditions allow outside work to continue, and less severe winters equal greater GDP for government).
Weather: Less storms equal greater comfort, wealth, and survival. Ice packs retreat, which has actually allowed sea travel to be more effective, reaching passages normally not accessed during cold weather years.
Population: Setting aside the political unrest that occurs in densely populated areas, the last Hundred years has seen an amazing explosion of human kind. This not only indicates the advancement in science, but also the favorable conditions in the earth's weather.
The planet is in the peak of its warm cycle, punctuated with snap-shots of record heat. This period on earth should continue for a few hundred years, as it always has done. Then it will end...maybe slowly, maybe quickly. Ice sheets will eventually grow at an increasing rate for the next 10,000 years or so until much of north America and possibly all of Canada is under several hundred feet of ice once again.
There is no guarantee about what kind of weather we will have in the next hundred years or so, but there is one thing I can guarantee...once the ice sheets start to encroach upon our property, people will appreciate a hot summer much more fondly than a frozen one.
To be sure, there are many places on earth where people struggle to survive; but generally speaking, mankind is reaping the fruits of the most habitable time of the glacial ice ages. Therefore, regardless of the climate change of random, unpredictable and wacky weather, let us pause to reflect less on our minor inconveniences and more on the blessing of all that we have.
