"Climate Change Caused Angry Runts"
It's been a while since we had a solar minimum.*
Hostile short people with nuclear weapons, this could get interesting.
From DiscoveryNews:
Climate changes resulted in war and famine in preindustrial Europe. A century-long drop in temperature even led to shorter people in the 16th century.*See:
Chinese researchers recently looked at every known major conflict and crisis in Europe and correlated them to 14 economic, social, agricultural, ecological and demographic variables.
“Our findings indicate that climate change was the ultimate cause, and climate-driven economic downturn was the direct cause, of large-scale human crises in preindustrial Europe and the Northern Hemisphere,” wrote the researchers, led by David Zhang of the University of Hong Kong, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Between 1500 and 1800, every change in average temperatures correlated to a change in agricultural output and food supply. The climate changes did not result in immediate changes in population growth, so even in a cold year with poor harvests, the population kept going up. More mouths to feed with less grain meant a rise in food prices and starvation.
Hungry people then either revolted, migrated or starved. On a larger scale this meant war, plague or malnutrition. But the disastrous effects of climate changes weren't instantaneous.
“Peaks of social disturbance such as rebellions, revolutions, and political reforms followed every decline of temperature, with a 1- to 15-year time lag,” reported the researchers.
For example, cold temperatures between 1264 and 1359 led to the Great Famine of the late Middle Ages.
During the long cold spell between 1559 and 1652, average heights in Europe declined by 0.8 inches....MORE
*****Alert***** "What's down with the Sun? Major drop in solar activity predicted" *****Alert*****
Ice Age, Not: "A Solar Scientist Rebuts a Cool Sunspot Prediction"
A few of our posts have touched on the subject:
Wheat Market Gone Wild and "Do We All Die in 2027?"
Herschel and Me (Sunspots and Wheat)
"The 2012 sunspot sell-off"
We'll be back with more, in the meantime here's Bob Seger:
