A FACT from History

I'm listening to a CD course on the High Middle Ages, viz. the period from about A. D. 1000 to A. D. 1300. The Teaching Company produced the course which has a well-respected and excellent lecturer. See http://www.teach12.com/ for it and other good courses. I had just finished the course about the preceding time period in Europe, called the Early Middle Ages which covered from about A. D. 300 until A. D. 1000. In that course I learned that the population in Europe (the Roman empire, that is) began declining in the mid 2nd century and continued to decline until around A. D. 700. The decline was substantial - around 50%. The decline seems to have been caused by the introduction of smallpox and measles; this likely was a principal factor in the fall of the western Roman Empire.

BUT around A. D. 7-800 the population stabilized and began to grow steadily until A. D. 1200. New farming technolgy for northern Europe was one factor. The falloff in Viking & other external raids towards A. D. 1000 was another. BUT one major fact stands out: the climate warmed, aiding farming and food production and helping human health in many ways.

This is an indisputable FACT. Why ? Pollen preserved in peat bogs proves that plants needing warmer climates grew in areas further north that even today. For example, grapes grew in more northerly areas of England. This warmer climate aided agricultural production hugely and the better food supplies fed more people well. Population doubled from A. D. 800 to A. D. 1200.

This period is called the Medieval Climatic Optimum, or the "Little Optimum" to contrast it to a remarkable cold period centered in the 17th century called the "Little Ice Age".

Here's an obvious question -> How could medieval man cause that warmer climate ? After all, well-funded modern "science" deems as a presumption that only Man can cause climate change. How did Charlemagne start this process ? How did those serfs cause the earth to warm ? Did the Vikings have secret gasoline engines in their long boats ? Did they have SUVs to move quickly over rough terrain and raid more monasteries ? Why hasn't the archaeological record uncovered signs of this remarkable technology ?

Hmmmm ... a puzzle, no ?

Perhaps we should reject the presumption that global warmings arise from carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere by man. Certainly that seems true for the Medieval Climatic Optimum. And if it didn't cause the warming then, WHY OH WHY are we to assume that it's happening now ? Why could not the SAME processes that caused the Medieval Climatic Optimum be causing the current century long warming trend ?

IF a scientist propounding theories for human causes of this global warming can't answer that, then he's likely a knave just after the grant money.

Word of the Day

"Indulcate" - verb, transitive [$1000] also spelled "indulciate"; obsolete, rare.
Indulcate means to sweeten (in the sense of make agreeable, less painful). related to "dulcify" meaning 1. make gentle; 2. sweeten.
Sentence: Compared to a cold, wet environment, a warmer, drier climate indulcates human life and increases happiness.