연구보고서
- 저자
- 노의근 교수
- 작성일
- 2015.02.01
- 조회
- 260
- 요약
- 목차
Global warming by the greenhouse gas effect has been an important issue in human society since the 20th century. However, the climate of the earth has always been changed, as exemplified by the ice age. Recent paleoclimatic study revealed that the climate has also changed significantly for the last 10000 years since the human history began. A large number of evidence suggest that the evolution of human civilization was affected by climate change in various important moments. Our human ancestors were born in East Africa, and spread to the whole earth during the last ice age.
The birth of agriculture occurred during the warming period (~ 10,000 BC) after the last ice age is over, but it may also be affected by the brief return to the ice age for about 1000 years, called the Younger Dryas period. Ancient civilization was born during the period in which climate became drier (~ 3000 BC) with the necessity for irrigation. Thereafter we had the period of cold climate (2500 - 500 BC, AD 400 - 700, AD 1600 - 1900), in which chaos and migration dominated, and the period of warm climate (200 BC - AD 200,
AD 1000 - 1200), in which stable political systems dominated and trade prospered. The fundamental technological progress was achieved while coping with the challenge of severe climate, or sometimes the civilization collapsed under the stress of severe climate, especially when the civilization had already suffered from the destruction of environment. How the human society responded to the previous climate change provides us the valuable information on how we have to respond to the present climate change.