Posted on 01/31/2019 7:36:19 AM PST by BenLurkin
It's the UCL group's estimate that 60 million people were living across the Americas at the end of the 15th Century (about 10% of the world's total population), and that this was reduced to just five or six million within a hundred years.
The scientists calculated how much land previously cultivated by indigenous civilisations would have fallen into disuse, and what the impact would be if this ground was then repossessed by forest and savannah.
Are there lessons for modern climate policy?
Co-author Dr Chris Brierley believes there is. He said the fall-out from the terrible population crash and re-wilding of the Americas illustrated the challenge faced by some global warming solutions.
...UCL team argues that the Great Dying in the Americas shows there are significant human interactions that left a deep and indelible mark on the planet long before the mid-20th Century.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Yeah, all those wooden ships took away the forests of Europe....................
The Little Ice Age lasted maybe 400 years, perhaps from 1450 to 1850 (estimates vary). And this was caused by colonies in America? Good to know.
I always though that solar events like the Maunder Minimum — when the sunspots basically disappeared — might have been involved somehow. But I guess it was us.
If you want a laugh, check this out:
rwood
60 million aborigines in the Western Hemisphere before the evil white man arrived?
That sounds preposterously high.
So white man arriving made the climate cool? There you have it! White Man GOOD!!
And just how did 90% of the America population die in 100 years????
I’ve also seen Genghis Khan described in semi-glowing terms because he killed enough people that the newly-abandoned lands reverted to forest to absorb CO2 in significant quantities.
Probably disease, mostly.
Sounds like a conclusion in search of some science it can call proof.
For one thing, "agricultural land" generally already has something growing on it, that's the point of creating agricultural land. So the crops dying and being replaced by natural vegetation would have minimal effect. There were also volcanoes, sunspots and a billion other inputs and factors present during this same period.
Irrelevant. All ills in the world must in some way be blamed on white males. This theory accomplishes that.
Crush the patriarchy!!
If the bbc and climate ‘scientists’ said water was wet I’d start doubting water was wet...
That dam* America! We must close it down. Those white devils ruined the planet. Anyone and anything white must be abolished.
That’s a helluva lot in such a short time span...
Proper bottom line - Native Americans caused Global Warming.
some say 1300 !
Bubonic Plague killed half the population of Europe in four years.
The “Spanish Flu” epidemic 100 years ago killed quite a few in a fairly short period, also.
Yeah, but 90%????
Disease. No herd immunity to smallpox and a host of other things.
I strongly question the population numbers though.
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