The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past
Recent decades have seen the rapid expansion of scholarship that identifies societal responses to past climatic fluctuations. This fast-changing scholarship, which was recently synthesized as the History of Climate and Society (HCS), is today undertaken primary by archaeologists, economists, genetic...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8faa |
| _version_ | 1797747343792013312 |
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| author | Dagomar Degroot Kevin J Anchukaitis Jessica E Tierney Felix Riede Andrea Manica Emma Moesswilde Nicolas Gauthier |
| author_facet | Dagomar Degroot Kevin J Anchukaitis Jessica E Tierney Felix Riede Andrea Manica Emma Moesswilde Nicolas Gauthier |
| author_sort | Dagomar Degroot |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent decades have seen the rapid expansion of scholarship that identifies societal responses to past climatic fluctuations. This fast-changing scholarship, which was recently synthesized as the History of Climate and Society (HCS), is today undertaken primary by archaeologists, economists, geneticists, geographers, historians and paleoclimatologists. This review is the first to consider how scholars in all of these disciplines approach HCS studies. It begins by explaining how climatic changes and anomalies are reconstructed by paleoclimatologists and historical climatologists. It then provides a broad overview of major changes and anomalies over the 300,000-year history of Homo sapiens, explaining both the causes and environmental consequences of these fluctuations. Next, it introduces the sources, methods, and models employed by scholars in major HCS disciplines. It continues by describing the debates, themes, and findings of HCS scholarship in its major disciplines, and then outlines the potential of transdisciplinary, ‘consilient’ approaches to the field. It concludes by explaining how HCS studies can inform policy and activism that confronts anthropogenic global warming. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:49:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ecd94098d7ff42ccb8aa79b0caaea155 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:49:25Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-ecd94098d7ff42ccb8aa79b0caaea1552023-08-09T15:16:54ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262022-01-01171010300110.1088/1748-9326/ac8faaThe history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human pastDagomar Degroot0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3769-3990Kevin J Anchukaitis1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8509-8080Jessica E Tierney2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9080-9289Felix Riede3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4879-7157Andrea Manica4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1895-450XEmma Moesswilde5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8560-668XNicolas Gauthier6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2225-5827History, Georgetown University , 3700 O St NW, Washington, DC, 20057, United States of AmericaSchool of Geography, Development, and Environment, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ, United States of America; Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ, United States of AmericaGeosciences, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ, United States of AmericaDepartment of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University , Aarhus, Denmark; Oslo School of Environmental Humanities, Oslo University , Oslo, NorwayZoology, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United KingdomHistory, Georgetown University , 3700 O St NW, Washington, DC, 20057, United States of AmericaFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida , 1659 Museum Rd, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States of AmericaRecent decades have seen the rapid expansion of scholarship that identifies societal responses to past climatic fluctuations. This fast-changing scholarship, which was recently synthesized as the History of Climate and Society (HCS), is today undertaken primary by archaeologists, economists, geneticists, geographers, historians and paleoclimatologists. This review is the first to consider how scholars in all of these disciplines approach HCS studies. It begins by explaining how climatic changes and anomalies are reconstructed by paleoclimatologists and historical climatologists. It then provides a broad overview of major changes and anomalies over the 300,000-year history of Homo sapiens, explaining both the causes and environmental consequences of these fluctuations. Next, it introduces the sources, methods, and models employed by scholars in major HCS disciplines. It continues by describing the debates, themes, and findings of HCS scholarship in its major disciplines, and then outlines the potential of transdisciplinary, ‘consilient’ approaches to the field. It concludes by explaining how HCS studies can inform policy and activism that confronts anthropogenic global warming.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8faaclimate changehistoryarchaeologygeneticseconomicsgeography |
| spellingShingle | Dagomar Degroot Kevin J Anchukaitis Jessica E Tierney Felix Riede Andrea Manica Emma Moesswilde Nicolas Gauthier The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past Environmental Research Letters climate change history archaeology genetics economics geography |
| title | The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |
| title_full | The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |
| title_fullStr | The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |
| title_full_unstemmed | The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |
| title_short | The history of climate and society: a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |
| title_sort | history of climate and society a review of the influence of climate change on the human past |
| topic | climate change history archaeology genetics economics geography |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8faa |
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