N I N G P O S T I N GB Y: M E L I S S A G O O D W I N

THE LITTLE ICE AGE

700 YEARS AGO …

• Extreme & Volatile Climatic Shifts• Cooling of 4 degrees from the climate we know today• Severely Cold• Fatal & history changing consequences• Is it a recurring cycle? Will it happen again?

14TH AND 19TH CENTURIES …

SEDIMENT CORES:

• Fossilized remains • Oceanic creatures

who have temperature preferences• Gives clues to climate

in different areas• Proves a global

cooling of 4 degrees

• Cooling destroyed farm lands• Crops that were the only

source of nutrition were impossible to cultivate.• Catastrophic rains for a

period of 5 years flooded the farming areas• Hunger and starvation

killed approximately 1.5 million

Famine

AFFECTS ON HUMANITY …

•Global cooling killed grape vines that produced wine• Beer and alcohol production began using cereal grains that survived• This culture has stayed true through the ages

Creating a culture of Beer

AFFECTS ON HUMANITY …

THE MAUNDER MINIMUM

• During the years of 1645 to 1752 came the Maunder Minimum• Sunspots dropped significantly, 400 to

only 50• Reduced heat radiation for Earth• Caused an additional 3 degree cooling• Rapid advancing of large glaciers• Continued suffering from destroyed farm

lands

A YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER …

• Indonesian eruption of Tambora

• Cataclysmic eruption 100,000 times worse than Mt. St. Helen

• 15 ½ miles into the Earth’s atmosphere

• Severe famine caused riots and heightened crime

• Caused the year without a summer in Europe and America

• Extreme cold weather all year round