The winds of change
Subtitle: climate, weather, and the destruction of civilizations
By: Eugene Linden
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2006
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 302
ISBN-13: 9780684863528
Subjects: Social aspects; Climate and civilization; Climatic changes; Weather
Description: Climate has been humanity's constant, if moody, companion. At times benefactor or tormentor, climate nurtured the first stirrings of civilization and then repeatedly visited ruin on empires and peoples. Environmental journalist Linden reveals a recurring pattern in which civilizations become prosperous and complacent during good weather, only to collapse when climate changes--either through its direct effects, such as floods or drought, or indirect consequences, such as disease, blight, and civil disorder. The science of climate change is still young, but the evidence mounts that climate loomed over the fate of societies from arctic Greenland to the Fertile Crescent and from the lost cities of the Mayans in Central America to the rain forests of Central Africa. The tragedy of New Orleans is but the latest instance in which a region prepared for weather disasters experienced in the past finds itself helpless when nature ups the ante.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: A matter of emphasis; title: The deep past : climate as creator; title: Destroyer; title: The first victim; title: Weapons of mass destruction : disease, migration, conflict, and famine; title: Empty promises of water : the collapse of the Mayans; title: The Little Ice Age : five hundred years of climate chaos; title: Climate comes into focus; title: The gears of global climate; title: Proxy wars I : ice; title: Proxy wars II : mud; title: The mystery of Tell Leilan; title: Scorched Earth; title: Is it Little Ice Age, or ages?; title: El Niño : how it works; title: El Niño meets empire; title: A taste of things to come?; title: The tides of public opinion; title: Water moving through water; title: Going forward; title: Chronology : the accelerating pace of climate change and scientific discovery.