A post by Pat
The failure to reduce chariot horse emissions maybe?
Climate change could have caused Rome’s fall
Washington (PTI): Climate change may have caused the decline of the Roman and Byzantine Empires in the Eastern Mediterranean over 1,400 years ago, according to researchers.
An international team has carried out a study and claims to have found evidence of dry weather from 100 A.D. to 700 A.D. that actually coincided with the fall of both Roman and Byzantine rule in the region.
“Whether this is what weakened the Byzantines or not isn’t known, but it is an interesting correlation. These things were certainly going on at the time that those historic changes occurred,” co-researcher Prof. John Valley was quoted as saying.
The findings are to be published in the Quaternary Research journal.
There might have been a few other factors leading to the fall of Rome, taxes for one, but one wonders. If the Romans had an Albertus Gorus would we all be speaking Latin today?
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt: Men willingly believe what they wish.
That is priceless. I could be wrong but I was taught prostitution and apathy had something to do with it as well. But perhaps “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt” applies to me also.
Good thoughts.
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt: Men willingly believe what they wish.
How true!
It’s also been argued that climate change may have caused the French Revolution, because of crop failures due to the Little Ice Age, and refusal by the French to adopt the Potato, which could survive the cold weather. There was a show on the History Channel about this. It actually sounded plausible.
Silly me! I always had an absurd notion that Rome fell because of decadence, political corruption, failure to assimilate an immigrant workforce, and a breakdown in property rights and the rule of law.
Also those barbarian hordes.
How clever! Blame the weather and absolve moonbats.
A new weapon in the moonbat arsenal: “The tropical depression did it! We’re all victims!”
hmmmm…climate change eh? Was it all the methane gases from the animals that were slaughtered for entertainment, or were the Romans more advanced than we’ve been led to believe. Were they driving SUV’s? We all know that’s the reason for our weather changes now.
I always get nervous when pseudo scientists and politicians quote statistics or try to correlate certain events with each other and by extension imply cause and effect. One of the fundamentals of statistics is that just because two events can be correlated, correlation is not sufficient to prove cause and effect. There was a time an article like this wouldn’t have made it past the absract phase let alone be published!