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A Major Climate Change HappenedA Major Climate Change HappenedA Major Climate Change HappenedA Major Climate Change Happened 5,200 years ago. Is it Happening Again?5,200 years ago. Is it Happening Again?5,200 years ago. Is it Happening Again?5,200 years ago. Is it Happening Again?

G laciologist / paleoclimatolo-

gist Lonnie Thompson

found evidence that a major

shift in climate happened

5,200 years ago. He worries that history

may now be repeating itself. If he is

right the implications would be catas-

trophic for modern society.

Thompson, a professor of geologi-

cal sciences at Ohio State University and

a researcher with the Byrd Polar Re-

search Center, has spent his career dis-

covering climate change evidence in re-

mote ice fields around the world.

As ice formed in glaciers, bits of

atmosphere were trapped inside. Scien-

tists can analyze the ice that formed

thousands of years ago and find out just

how warm the earth’s atmosphere was at

a particular time.

By drilling core samples from

these ice fields Thompson found per-

fectly preserved plants in the Quelccaya

ice cap in the Peruvian Andes and evi-

dence that the climate changed suddenly.

The plants were carbon-dated to deter-

mine the age to be 5,200 years old.

The study of tree rings in Ireland

and England pointed to a drought 5,200

years ago.

On Mount Kilimajaro in Africa,

ice core samples show a record low at-

mospheric temperature 5,200 years ago.

His research also suggests the

Sahara Desert went from a habitable re-

gion to a barren desert at the same time

and that a major shift occurred in plant

pollen in lakebed cores of South Amer-

ica. Record low levels of methane were

retrieved from ice cores in Greenland

and Antartica.

In 1991, a preserved body was

found of a man (hailed Oetzi) trapped in

an Alpine glacier. Tests indicate that he

died 5,200 years ago.

“The evidence clearly points back

to this point in history and to some event

that occurred,” Thompson said. “It also

points to similar changes occurring in

today’s climate.”

Thompson believes that the past

events may have been caused by solar

activity. This coincides with historical

global cooling, called the little ice age.

And while Thompson suggests

solar activity may have been the cause of

climate change 5,200 years ago he also

theorizes that today’s climate change is

probably caused by humanmade green-

house gases.

He substantiates that the world

population 5,200 years ago was approxi-

mately 250 million, unlike the 7 billion

on the planet today.

“The climate system is remarka-

bly sensitive to natural variability,” he

said. “It’s likely that it is equally sensi-

tive to effects brought on by human ac-

tivity, changes like increased greenhouse

gases, altered land-use policies, and fos-

sil fuel dependence.

“Any prudent person would agree

that we don’t yet understand the com-

plexities with the climate system, and,

since we don’t, we should be extremely

cautious in how much we ‘tweak’ the

system.”

“The evidence is clear that a ma-

jor climate change is underway.”

Are the 7 billion people on this

planet increasing the likelihood of cli-

mate change or are we once again under

the spell of the sun on some cycler jour-

ney towards another shift in the cosmic

realm? Perhaps it is even a combination

of the two …

In a recent discussion with The-

GreenGazette, Mary E. Davis, senior

research associate at the Byrd Polar Re-

search Center, helped clarify.

Davis explained the possible

reasons for climate change some 5,200

years ago that did not involve human-

made greenhouse gases. “A favourite

theory that explains abrupt climate

events involves non-linear responses to

gradual insolation changes. That just

means that as the relative amount of so-

lar energy changes very slowly over hun-

dreds or thousands of years, a threshold

may be reached which triggers feedbacks

between the atmosphere, ocean (sea sur-

face tempera-

tures), and albedo

(amount of light

that is reflected

from the surface), and these feedbacks

may in turn trigger sudden climate shifts.

These feedbacks may involve changes in

the frequency and intensity of El Nino,

for example. This may explain the sud-

den climate event that occurred 5,200

years ago and another that happened

1,000 years later. Both of these events

occurred in the Middle Holocene when

the summer solar insolation was gradu-

ally decreasing in the Northern Hemi-

sphere from its maximum at ~9,000 years

ago.”

We certainly can not change

variations of solar energy; however,

Davis theorizes about what humans can

do to slow the effects of climate change.

“As far as what individuals can

do to slow down modern anthropogenic

climate change, that depends on how

involved each person wants to be. At the

very least, people can reduce the amount

of energy they use without compromising

their lifestyle too much simply by turning

off lights, appliances, computers, etc.

when not in use, drive more fuel efficient

cars, take more public transportation if

possible, buy food locally, and reduce

discretionary consumption just a little.

“If one is more committed to

reducing their carbon footprint, they can

do things that are more lifestyle-

changing, like adapt their house to re-

newable energy sources, try to fly as little

as possible (difficult for some, I know),

and eat less meat. Finally, those individu-

als who are very concerned about the

anthropogenic effects on the climate and

the environment should get involved in

influencing energy and environmental

policies and education on a national and

international level. After all, you can turn

off all your lights, drive a hybrid, convert

to vegetarianism on food bought at the

local farmers’ market, and install solar

panels on the roof of your house, but if

you are one of only a handful of people

doing all these things it won’t really

make much of a global impact,” Davis

replied.

Considering Canada has just re-

cently withdrawn from the Kyoto Proto-

col, which committed industrialized na-

tions to reduce their greenhouse gas

emissions, it leaves the question: “If

Davis is correct, why isn’t it the priority

of our government to reduce greenhouse

gases?”

***

Mary Davis and Lonnie G. Thompson

of Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group

on Kilimanjaro Expedition in 2000 taking ice core samples.

Are the 7 billion people on

this planet increasing the

likelihood of climate change

or are we once again under

the spell of the sun on some

cycler journey towards

another shift in the cosmic

realm?

By Teena Clipston

January 2012January 2012January 2012January 2012 www.thegreengazette.cawww.thegreengazette.cawww.thegreengazette.cawww.thegreengazette.ca Page Page Page Page 7777

THEGREENGAZETTETHEGREENGAZETTETHEGREENGAZETTETHEGREENGAZETTE

By Teena Clipston

3112 - 2012

The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar

The Legend of the Flood

The Black Sea

The year 2012 marks the end of an

age for the MesoAmerican long count cal-

endar—many of us know it as the Mayan

Calendar.

The Mayan used three very complex

calendar systems: the tzolkin, the haab, and

the long count calendar. The tzolkin is a

260-day system based on the period of hu-

man gestation. The haab is a calendar simi-

lar to our own 365-day calendar, however,

consisting of 18 months of 20 days each (a

tun), plus five extra days called uayeb. The

long count calendar consisted of 20 tuns,

making it a katun. Twenty katun make a

baktun, and thirteen baktuns add up to a

thirteen-baktun cycle of 1,872,000 days

(5,200 tuns or about 5,125 of our years).

Do you notice the coincidence here?

Paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson’s

research points to a major climate event

that happened about 5,200 years ago…

And this is when the Mesoamerican calen-

dar started.

There are also interesting climate

change references found in other Meso-

american artifacts.

In 1790 archaeologists unearthed a

huge carved stone disk in Mexico City. The

disk is twelve feet in diameter weighing

twenty-four metric tons—the disk is know

as the Aztec Sunstone or the Calendar

Stone. The glyphs on the calendar are said

to represent five gods who represent the

There are numerous accounts of

the great deluge that can be found in

the religions and folklore of most an-

cient civilizations, with dates ranging

from 2348 BC to 3982 BC, all of which

tell of a flood of such enormous pro-

portions that it may have even covered

the whole Earth.

The story of the flood’s earliest

inscription can be found in a Sumerian

legend called the Epic of Gilgamesh

(preserved on 12 clay tablets), in which

the God Ea warns Utnapishtim to build

a boat to save himself from a great

flood. Except for a few small differ-

ences, the biblical version in the Old

Testament tells the same story as the

Sumaerian text version.

The Aztec Sunstone

In 1999, maritime explorer Bob Ballard and other marine archaeologists

found evidence of a great flood in the Black Sea. Using an underwater robot,

more than 300 ft below the seas’s surface they found a rolling landscape covered

with houses and an ancient shoreline that may have been flooded up to 7,000

years ago. According to the geological evidence, nearly 100,000 square miles

were inundated by flood waters.

A History of Climate Change

The Flood Tablet - the eleventh tablet

of the Gilgamesh Epic. Photo by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net).

five ages of the world. Four rectangular

panels show the four previous suns, while

the central circle shows the current sun.

The four previous suns are representing the

four types of disasters that ended the four

previous suns.

Hollywood’s depiction of 2012 may

have been just what the doomsday enthusi-

ast ordered; however, truth be told no one

knows for certain what 2012 will bring, and

even the text of the ancient Maya may have

been wrongly deciphered, or perhaps like

Hollywood, they are just stories. But one

thing we do know for sure… our climate is

changing.

Mass Extinction

The Ice Age

Ancient Cities Below the Sea

Japan

Masaaki Kimura, a marine geolo-

gist at the University of Ryukyus in

Japan, has been studying submerged

stone structures just below the waters

off of Yonaguni Jima for more than 15

years.

Kimura believes that the struc-

tures are the remains of a 5,000-years-

old city. Kimura explains that the larg-

est of the structures looks like a compli-

cated, monolithic, steeped pyramid that

rises from a depth of 82 feet.

Some experts believe that the

structures could be the remains of Mu, a

fabled Pacific civilization rumored to

have vanished beneath the waves.

Isreal An ancient village, Atlit-Yam,

lies beneath the waves in the Mediter-

ranean Sea, near Haifi, Isreal. The site

dates between 6900 and 6300 BC and

lies between 8 and 12 meters below

sea level. Excavations have uncov-

ered houses, piles of fish, grain

stores, human skeletons, and a stone

circle. Scientists believe that the vil-

lage was abandoned suddenly.

India Archaeological remains of a

9,500-year-old city have been discov-

ered 120 feet underwater in the Gulf

of Cambay off the western coast of

India. The discovery was made by

chance by oceanographers from In-

dia’s National Institute of Ocean

Technology conducting a survey on

pollution. Dredging operations have

uncovered human bones, stone tools,

pieces of pottery, beads, sculpture,

and many other items. Scientists say

that the city may have submerged at

the end of the last ice age when the

ice caps melted.

Off the shores of Alexandria in

Egypt, what is believed to be the

ruins of the royal palace of Cleo-

patra. Marine archaeologist Franck

Goddio made excavation of this

ancient city. Scientists believe this

site was submerged by earthquakes

and tidal waves more than 1,600

years ago.

There have been at least five major ice ages in the Earth's past. Outside these ages,

the Earth may have been ice-free. The causes of ice ages are not fully understood and

several factors can influence these events such as atmospheric compositions—high con-

centrations of carbon dioxide and methane, the earth’s orbit around the sun, and the mo-

tion of tectonic places.

A baby mammoth known as Lyuba that was fro-zen for 37,000 years has shed new light on life

long ago. The mammoth, unlike other mam-

moths that have been found, was perfectly

preserved in the Arctic tundra. The con-tents of her stomach were still intact and

provided excellent clues about her past.

Palaeontogists now believe they under-

stand more about what led to the extinc-tion of the woolly mammoth 10,000 years

ago. It was thought that the mammoths

died because they were unable to adapt

to the changing world temperatures; however, the full stomach suggests

that the herd had plenty of food

and the baby mammoth was in good

health when she was frozen.