Today I realized a childhood dream by becoming lead author of an article in @nature. It coins a new term – the “History of Climate and Society” (HCS) – to refer to the interdisciplinary study of the past impacts of #ClimateChange on people. #EnvHist 1/11 nature.com/articles/s4158…
It offers a critique of the field as it has been pursued to date, presents a new research framework for HCS, and shows how the application of that framework can permit new scholarship into the resilience of populations that faced modest, pre-industrial climate change. 2/11
It then identifies five “pathways” that allowed populations to endure and even exploit these changes. I hope that this publication will encourage HCS scholars to explore more diverse consequences of climate changes on past populations - beyond the rise and fall of societies. 3/11
I think it shows that there is a place for qualitative, historical scholarship in the world’s leading scientific journals. And I believe it undermines #Doomist narratives of the future that uncritically draw on examples of supposed collapse from the past. 4/11
Populations that adapted in the face of climate changes could thrive, we argue, but sometimes at the expense of others. This is a wakeup call for policymakers. Not only should we invest more in climate adaptation, but we must also ensure that adaptation reduces inequality. 5/11
I wrote a 4,000-word article that explains how we developed this publication within an interdisciplinary team - which we advocate in our research framework. This may be a useful piece for #Twitterstorians who'd like to work in other disciplines. 6/11 historicalclimatology.com/features/littl…
I also spoke with study co-author @emmamoesswilde for an episode of Climate History that explains the major findings of our publication, and provides additional detail on the process of creating it. #EnvHist 7/11 historicalclimatology.com/interviews/tow…
We had 18 co-authors, and I want to give a shout out to those on Twitter. @thirstygecko was my key partner in the project; without him, none of this would have worked. He also sent me a lot of beer when we were published, so you should always co-author with him if you can. 8/11
@deLuna_GU contributed a critical case study and helped us incorporate environmental archaeology and historical linguistics. @elenaxoplaki offered essential criticisms and revisions – and an important case study. 9/11
@HeliHuhtamaa made countless crucial interventions, and gave us two major case studies. @katrinkleemann contributed an eye-opening case study and helped us revise our work. @fredcarnegy offered a fascinating case study and so did @jakobburnham, based on a course paper (!). 10/11
I’d like to thank our editor, @MWClimateSci, for suggestions that helped us to make far more important interventions than we otherwise might have. And thanks to the Georgetown Environment Initiative, led by @PeterPMarra, for the grant that got this project off the ground. 11/11
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