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The Swedish Goblin Of Doom seems to have had a few mentions over the past few days, usually in relation to Extinction Rebellion.
Fancy a quick history lesson?
In the years before the Plague of Justinian, in the 6th century, the European climate became markedly colder.
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Fancy a quick history lesson?
In the years before the Plague of Justinian, in the 6th century, the European climate became markedly colder.
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The evidence is in the chronicles and in the tree rings. Famines and deaths caused by a combination of deteriorating weather, wars, infectious diseases and the First (Justinian) Pandemic (plague) caused catastrohpic population loss.
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Historians estimate the population of *Roman* Europe in the 2nd and 3rd centuries to have been between 50 to 70 million. By the 8th century the population of *Europe* had sunk to 25-26 million. By 800 woodland had reclaimed 80% of the depopulated continent's surface.
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In the second half of the 8th century Europe entered a period of global warming known as the Little Optimum, with no help from man whatsoever. Temperatures increased by an average of more than 1°C.
Did this cause the cataclysm predicted by the Goblin and her friends?
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Did this cause the cataclysm predicted by the Goblin and her friends?
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It did not. The warmer weather produced an abundance. The vine could be grown in England and Poland, even Greenland. Marginal farmland became good farmland. Good farmland became very good farmland. Crop yields recovered from the 2-3 to 1 of Late Antiquity to 5-6 to 1.
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The dense forests could be attacked, new land assarted. Despite the wars of a notably violent period and occasional pestilence, the population grew, and with it towns and trade. At the start of the Late Mediaeval Period (c1300) Europe's population stood at 75-100 million.
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In the second half of the 13th century the Little Optimum ebbed, and by the early 14th cool summers and bitter winters were the norm, underlined by the sudden onset of torrential rains in 1314 that were the direct cause of the Great Famine the following year.
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Perhaps 20% of the peasantry died in the dreadful period 1315-1322, the calamity naturally afflicting them more than any other class. 30 years later an even greater calamity, The Pestilence (Second Pandemic) afflicted all classes, of course.
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The end of the Little Optimum saw the slow onset of the Little Ice Age (which wasn't quite as cataclysmic as the name suggests) again with no help from man whatsoever.
As, indeed, many many previous warming/cooling events all took place without the least human assistance.
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As, indeed, many many previous warming/cooling events all took place without the least human assistance.
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We warmed substantially during the Little Optimum. We grew rich. The population ballooned. We even regained much of sea-logged East Anglia.
And there wasn't a thing we could do to stop it!
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And there wasn't a thing we could do to stop it!
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Whatever the Goblin Of Doom, the motley of XR, the dodgy science and cherry-picked stats may say, if it's going to get warm, it's going to get warm. And if not, not.
Trust your Mother Earth. She'll tell you when it's bedtime, and you won't be able to do a thing about it.
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Trust your Mother Earth. She'll tell you when it's bedtime, and you won't be able to do a thing about it.
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