Climate and Civilization in Chapter

Climate and Civilization

In Chapter three of his book Earth in the Balance, former vice president Al Gore makes the point that our civilization is heavily dependent on stability in the climate. For the last ten thousand years, we have experienced the same sort of climate with very few changes. In order for our civilization to continue, we must avoid climate change at all costs. What a lot of people do not realize is the fact that climate changes in one part of the world can have dire consequences in a completely different part of the world. This has been demonstrated again and again throughout history, as Gore shows by pointing out the disastrous crop shortages that occurred in Europe in 1816 as the result of a volcano's eruption on the other side of the planet. What is more, if the change in climate is manmade -- and thus a lot more sudden than the changes caused by natural disasters -- the consequences for our planet may be very serious indeed. If that is not enough, then Gore goes on to explain that drastic changes in the climate that have been caused by natural disaster have had a detrimental effect on political and social unrest in effected countries, and can lead to famines. Finally, Gore points out that climate change has caused mass migration to occur, effectively putting populations greatly at risk.

Gore's thesis is incredibly complex, but his reasoning is sound throughout the course of the chapter. He illustrates point by point the reasons why climate change puts civilizations in danger, and then provides examples from throughout history. His examples are strong and persuasive. For instance, in his discussion of mass migration that has come about as the result of climate change, he points to one of the greatest migrations in history -- the one that led to North and South America becoming populated:

During the last ice age, roughly 20,000 years ago, when vast amounts of seawater were frozen into ice, sea level was about three hundred feet lower than it is today. Large areas of those parts of the ocean bottom we call the continental shelf were exposed as dry land, and shallow ocean straits, like the Bering Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria, were instead land bridges. These bridges served as migratory routes for the people now known as aborigines in Australia and the Asiatic nomads now known in North America as Native Americans and in South America as Indians or indigenous people. As the glaciers retreated, the sea level rose again some 10,000 years ago, stranding the Native Americans and aborigines on their new continents. At the same time, as temperatures climbed, the global climate settled into the pattern that it has roughly maintained ever since (Gore, p. 61).