Climate Change Driving War?

New submitter Stirling Newberry writes "You may have heard of The Great Moderation (PDF), which argues that business cycles have become less volatile over time, and the Green Revolution, a set of initiatives that led to increased global food production. These, it has been argued, have led to a marked decrease in war across the world. But not so fast, says a study in Science. It may well be that periods of war, past and present, can be linked to changes in climate: 'The most direct way in which extreme climate shifts influence human society is through agriculture, Zhang says; a falling supply of crops will drive up the price of gold and cause inflation. Similarly, epidemics can be exacerbated by famine. And when people are miserable, they are likely to become angry with their governments and each other, resulting in war. But golden ages rise out of these dark periods, the team argues. For instance, a 100-year cold period beginning in 1560 caused shortened crop growing seasons. The researchers found a causal linkage with a decline in average human height by nearly an inch during this period, and the century was rife with disease and conflict. But the world began to warm in 1650; when Charles II was crowned king of England in 1660, the coronation sparked the Enlightenment era in Europe.'"

Comments

Re:Yes, of course

[PopeRatzo]

Anyway, this is the second Warmer story today, this is getting silly.

Oh, shut the fuck up. Just because you prefer magic to science doesn't mean everyone does. Why not just call Al Gore fat and leave it at that, for all you add to the conversation.

Listening to Rush Limbaugh douchebags go on about how global warming is gonna be so great for everyone so we should all just drill baby drill makes me understand more clearly why the US has fallen to such a sad state over the past thirty years.

Warm things up a bit and we will lose some land and gain some.

Unfortunately, the US is going to be the one losing arable land. Didn't think that one all the way through, did you, jmorris42. How much of the Southern US has to go down in flames every year before you start to realize that this global warming stuff might not be such a picnic. Texas has just this summer lost $5.2 Billion in crops to wildfires. How many tens of billions were lost in the storms across the East and South?

How bad does it have to get before you turn off the AM radio and realize you've let your hatred of anyone smarter or better educated than you lead you into following a bankrupt "conservative" ideology that is in no way conservative?