PUBLISHED: Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Excerpt: Today’s concerns about global warming should be seen in the light of the climate around 1000 AD. Vikings were farming Greenland. The climate of England permitted vineyards. But there are no indications that populated lands were experiencing alarming rising sea levels at that time. In the 13th and 14th centuries, there were climatic extremes. Cold winters, hot summers, flooding and drought. From the 16th to the 19th century, temperatures dropped. Glaciers advanced. Winters were severe. Summers were short and wet. England’s vineyards vanished. Farming in northern latitudes became impossible. The Viking community in Greenland perished. Since about 1840, temperatures started to rise, about 1 degree C from 1840 to a high in 1984. Investigating the climate conditions of that time with present-day analytical methods, the global warming and industrial pollution of 1000 AD must have been phenomenal. Huge factories spewing out massive amounts of CO2 that affected the climate worldwide. Yet, the science of that day stopped it “cold,” and even over-corrected during the next 300 years. If we studied their global warming problem and their solution to the industrial pollution of 1000 AD, we could adapt their superior technology to correct today’s climatic concerns. Where were these factories? How did they produce so many pollutants at a time of low middle ages industrial activity? How did they stop it? Alternatively, we could realize sun activity, volcanic activity and other actions of nature contribute far more to climate change than do the puny efforts of man.
http://www.thekansan.com/stories/081407/le...070814007.shtml