Depopulation of Americas may have cooled climate
By Devin Powell
By sailing to the New World, Christopher Columbus and the other explorers who followed may have set off a chain of events that cooled Europe’s climate for centuries.The European conquest of the Americas decimated the people living there, leaving large areas of cleared land untended. Trees that filled in this territory pulled billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, diminishing the heat-trapping capacity of the atmosphere and cooling climate, says Richard Nevle, a geochemist at Stanford University.
“We have a massive reforestation event that’s sequestering carbon … coincident with the European arrival,” says Nevle, who described the consequences of this change October 11 at the Geological Society of America annual meeting.
Tying together many different lines of evidence, Nevle estimated how much carbon all those new trees would have consumed. He says it was enough to account for most or all of the sudden drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide recorded in Antarctic ice during the 16th and 17th centuries. This depletion of a key greenhouse gas, in turn, may have kicked off Europe’s so-called Little Ice Age, centuries of cooler temperatures that followed the Middle Ages.
Wow. Was this a Columbus Day gag gone awry? Just wow.
Mr.Powell is either an idiot or just playing around. I doubt it is the latter.
Wow is the proper term I think Dan. Talk about grasping at straws! So I guess the Sun had no role in the LIA whatsoever? Who knew!?
Damn scientists and their evil manners!
I have no idea what you mean by that.
I tried to post a comment twice and it says “It seems like you’ve already posted that” but it’s not here. Very strange.
In the United States, which contains 8 percent of the world’s forests, there are more trees than there were 100 years ago. According to the FAO, “Forest growth nationally has exceeded harvest since the 1940s. By 1997, forest growth exceeded harvest by 42 percent and the volume of forest growth was 380 percent greater than it had been in 1920.” The greatest gains have been seen on the East Coast (with average volumes of wood per acre almost doubling since the ’50s) which was the area most heavily logged by European settlers beginning in the 1600s, soon after their arrival.
Ok, it’s not taking the link for the source. The source is mnn.com, the Mother Nature Network. If you want to view the source try going to the Mother Nature Network and copy this and paste it after the www address: /earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/more-trees-than-there-were-100-years-ago-its-true
Love that word “sequestering.” Al Gore uses it incessantly. As to tree’s taken by Columbus? He must have had a million chain saws active. I assume this article is a farse??? By the way, when you clear cut an old forest it brings back new growth that doubles the old. My grandfather was an old lumberjack.
It has no validity so I think it’s got to be a farce. Or the guy is smoking bongfulls a day.
You people don’t even need a bong… or that whoch goes in it. You are high all the time without assistance.
Is that your famous logic and reasoning? Look, what this guy is saying could not possibly have occured. There is no basis in fact. There is no record of what the population of indigenous peoples were, and the history of agriculture in the region does not support what he is saying.
http://www.rain.org/global-garden/history/garden-history-precolumbian.html
“When Europeans arrived, most, if not all, Native Americans still depended on hunting,fishing and gathering to a significant degree. However, some tribes, particularly in the southeast,such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek, were settled and rather than nomadic.”
And it would also make more sense that as Europeans began to spread out they would have taken advantage of land that was already cleared, and even more land would have been cleared for farming by them than the level of domesticated farming of the indigenous peoples would suggest had already been cleared.
Sorry, but this just does not wash. And I put the bong down many years ago. Have you?
What is a bong?? A drum??
Really Joe? You have never heard of a bong? If you are serious, not joking that is, Bong: A water pipe that consists of a bottle or a vertical tube partially filled with liquid and a smaller tube ending in a bowl, used often in smoking narcotic substances.
If you are joking, it is a term also used to describe the sound of a bell.
Entertainment…. thy name is Rightwing.
Rightwinger: a vertical tube filled with anything other than logic.
RNH, I looked it up. I don’t, nor have ever done drugs. I work for a living to pay my bills. Don’t have time to dwell into your area. I’m too busy trying to make money. Do you have a problem with that? Let me know because if so, you and I have a “Major” problem!!!!!!
Uh oh, Joe is angwy. Uh, Joe, your buddy Neil brought it up, I didn’t. And while no one accused you of doing drugs (!?) it is strange that you should insinuate that I do. Besides that it’s none of your business either way. So do we now have a “major” problem?? Please let me know, I’m losing sleep over it…
I sincerely hope you sleep good at night. I do.
So truth and logic bother you? I guess I can’t be too surprised by that. zzzzzzzzzz
Truth and logic prevails. As to your “truth and alleged logic?” You must be kidding the average person that thinks.
The problem may be that the average person doesn’t think. Not enough anyway. Just say no to drugs. And alcohol.
You know, we are finally in total accord. You hit the nail on the head for the first time. The “average person” knows more about Kim Kardashian (sic) and her family than what is going on this beautiful country. Now that is a sad state of affairs! Had this vehement discussion last evening and prevailed getting most, if not all to understand there are more things in life like real world as it exists. People had no idea regarding Spain, Italy, EU et al and the world’s economic problems! They had no idea, never read investigated but knew about OWS, but had no idea why!!!!! Now that ticked me off! As to drugs? Drink, smoke as you wish, just don’t tell me I have to because you do. I’m not a follower nor do I sense are you.
Ummm, Joe…. I never advocated for you to do anything except utilize logic. And I did NOT state that I used drugs or anything else, in fact, I believe I stated the opposite (the drug part). Perhaps in addition to using logic you could also brush up on your reading comprehension skills. I am saying this not as a flippant remark or even an insult (although I am almost certain you will take it as such) but as a genuine recommendation for accuracy of future communications.
I will not “lose sleep” over your post. Your “normal” response. What’s new?
Oh gosh so sorry to be a bore… It’s really a bonus that you are never-repeating and refreshing…. thank goodness!
It’s obvoius there are lots of idiots out there so here goes. Please send me all your spares cash and I promise here and now I will only ever breath in. PO Box 1710 Capalaba 4157 Australia.
ha ha he he… oh, gosh…. sides hurt… from laughing…. uncontrollably…. such sharp wit, cuts to the core….