Pirate's Cove

They’re really digging deep to defend their cult

“Humans didn’t wait for the industrial revolution to provoke environment and climate change. They have been having an influence for at least 8000 years.” Jed Kaplan is putting forward a new interpretation of the history of man and his environment. This professor at EPFL and his colleague Kristen Krumhardt have developed a model that demonstrates the link between population increase and deforestation. The method enables a fairly precise estimate of human-origin carbon emissions before the advent of industrialization.

Hmm, interesting, using the time period when the climate started to settle after the last Ice Age, and the climate started to vacillate between warmer and cooler periods. And guess what humans caused?

Lastly, a significant decrease in emissions began in the 16th century – the one which would herald the minor ice age. Jed Kaplan has an audacious hypothesis to explain the dip in the data curve: “Thanks to the reports of the early explorers, we know that the forests were less abundant on the American continent. Then the settlers gradually eliminated the indigenous population.” Threatened with extinction, these populations effectively deserted the forested areas, which – by taking up the carbon in the atmosphere – in turn set off the legendary frosts of the 19th century. “Of course, it’s only a hypothesis”, he concludes, “but given the data we have gathered, it’s entirely plausible”.

That’s right, it caused the Little Ice Age….wait, the LIA actually started several centuries earlier. Well, it doesn’t matter, because it is a hypothesis crystal ball reading, but, it’s entirely plausible!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!

(h/t Steven Goddard)