Weather and its effect on history
Little did the people in France know that the dry weather developing across the area in the spring of 1788 would lead to a major change in the makeup of the political landscape in their country. Widespread crop failures came later in the summer and the wheat harvest was some 20% lower than normal years.
The book, 鈥淔rom Dearth to Plenty: The Modern Revolution in Food Production鈥� by Kenneth Blaxter and Noel Robertson, describes how inevitably food shortages developed not only because of the bad harvest, but because the year before was a good harvest and instead of storing any excess grain the government encouraged large amounts of exports to help with its tremendous existing debt.
By late summer of the dry year, they were forced to import wheat at an elevated cost. The shortfall was aggravated by the fact that Turkey had just declared war on Austria and Russia and countries like Sweden were poised to join the war, which made shipping of grain in the Baltic unsafe further reducing grain supply at a critical time. France had also been in the midst of a long recession that had lowered wine prices and the cloth industry was being flooded by cheap imports, throwing many hungry workers into the street in search of food. The situation was soon out of control.
The weakness of the French social order born of generations of chronic hunger was the underlying reason for the French revolution and the current shortage of grain and bread caused by the weather certainly added the fuel to ignite the countryside and the storming of the Bastille. Along with the shortage of bread rumors spread about impending wage reductions. The turmoil did not end in 1789, but continued for almost five more years and was continuously plagued by bad weather and more droughts. The events of 1789 stemmed in part to the farmers vulnerability to cycles of wet and cold warmth and drought. These sudden climate shifts pushed millions of French peasants across the fine line separating survival from deprivation.
The history of mankind is filled with weather events that changed the course of history and it蘑菇视频 not over as worsening climate problems continue to plague the more vulnerable. Heat waves, droughts, hurricanes and blizzards have always been a problem and will continue into the future. Fortunately we live in a time when we are able to deal with many of these events.
Grain can be quickly shipped to people in need as long as we have the political will to help those in need. Just think back a few years ago when the Tsunami caused by an earthquake killed 250,000 in one day on December 26 2004 off the coast of Indonesia. In our own country, Hurricane Katrina just a few years ago brought plenty of misery and killed some 3,000. Closer to home the Johnstown flood killed over two thousand people as water roared down the canyon after heavy rains caused the South Fork dam to burst.
Today, the ice is melting, seas are rising and many are vulnerable simply due to where they live. Weather catastrophes will always be with us and they will come just like the drought in France when we are least prepared.
Can history help us be prepared? Let蘑菇视频 hope so. First, we have to stop the denial of our changing climate and continue the discussion that seems to be getting started. We are all vulnerable and we owe it to our children to continue the discussion and prepare. The storms are brewing and the heat waves will get worse.