Medievel European Farmers and Climate Change

It streteches the believable that farmers in Europe had a global impact on climate. Just because tree pollen and carbon dioxide fluctations are correlated does not even come close to creating a causal link. Ice cream sales and drownings are both correlated, but we don't outlaw ice cream sales. And oh, I believe ice cream sales and drownings both go up during the summer.

Back to climate change, the reality of the Little Ice Age is that the Earth's climate is variable. Humans in Europe did not change the global climate despite the following:

"Between AD 1200 to 1300, we see a decrease in stomata and a sharp rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, due to deforestation we think," says Dr van Hoof, whose findings are published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

But after AD 1350, the team found the pattern reversed, suggesting that atmospheric carbon dioxide fell, perhaps due to reforestation following the plague.

The researchers think that this drop in carbon dioxide levels could help to explain a cooling in the climate over the following centuries.

Ocean damper

From around 1500, Europe appears to have been gripped by a chill lasting some 300 years.

There are many theories as to what caused these bitter years, but popular ideas include a decrease in solar activity, an increase in volcanic activity or a change in ocean circulation.