This blog had to start somewhere

Hello all you blog readers out there, thanks for taking your time and attention to read my first steps into the world of blogging. This blog is going to be focusing on the effects of climate change on human culture, and if you think this blog is going to discuss climate policy and its effect on us, well… you’re going to be in for bit of a shock. Why? Well you won’t believe it, but climate has had a profound effect on the rise and fall of ancient civilizations throughout a period called the Holocene.

Source: http://www.geocaching.com

The Holocene refers to the last 11,000 years and is part of a period called the Quaternary, which stretches back 2.5 million years ago. It is characterised by a relatively warmer climate compared to the rest of the Quaternary, although it also consists of some abrupt climatic transitions, often resulting in prolonged droughts (deMenocal 2001). These droughts aren't on the same scale to present day droughts, these ones can last several decades, even several centuries (deMenocal 2001).

I hope you can see where I am going here, mainly that these abrupt shifts in climate in some way or form has had an impact on human society, ranging from the smallest settlements to some of the most extensive ancient civilizations (Coombes and Barber 2005). I am sure some of you are sceptical about this notion, since the climate debate has been focused on how the change in climate has physically affected us today. Well in future posts I will guide you through some of the debates and provide you with some interesting case studies showing the effects of the climate change throughout the holocene on those civilizations.

But for now I am going to sign off this post with a little bit of music from a game all about civilizations, hope you enjoy it and until then have a good time.