The effects of climate change are here and serious. While it may seem like uncharted waters in the modern era, our ancestors in the 1600s faced a global climate crisis in a century wracked by wars, famines, and social unrest. Historian Geoffrey Parker discusses the lessons of the 17th century, where elites — with the exception of Tokugawa Japan — responded to the “Little Ice Age” with wars and scapegoating. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Geoffrey Parker, Global Crisis War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century Yale University Press, 2013

photo: Matt Palmer via Unsplash

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