Nicholas Cunigan, our newsletter editor, has just published the Summer 2016 issue of our quarterly Climate History Newsletter. This issue is our biggest yet, with conference information, feature articles, project abstracts, and (as always) a list of the latest scholarship in climate history. We also introduce the new faces in our growing leadership team.
Download the issue by clicking here.
Origins OSU Podcast - Climate Change and Human Life
In the Origins OSU podcast "Climate Change and Human Life," environmental historians Sam White, John Brooke, and Nicholas Breyfogle discuss what climate history can add to our understanding of anthropogenic climate change. White, Brooke, and Breyfogle discuss past patterns of climate change and debate the extent to which humans modified global climates prior to the onset of the industrial revolution. The three historians also address new directions in the field of climate history. Climate history has helped demonstrate that changes in climate and weather patterns have been a constant feature in the planet’s history and climate change has played an important role in human history. The field is now contributing in new ways to contemporary debates on climate change. For example, historians are starting to provide concrete instances of successful adaptation to climate change in the past. The podcast can be accessed by clicking here.
PAGES-Supported Sessions at AGU Fall Meeting
Past Global Changes (PAGES) will be holding six sessions related to climate history at this year’s Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The AGU Fall Meeting will be held from December 12-16, 2016 in San Francisco, USA. Abstract submissions are due August 3, 2016 and student travel grant applications are due August 10, 2016. Click here for a description of each session and more information on abstract submissions.
Climate History at the AMOS Annual Conference, February 2017
The Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) is holding an interdisciplinary conference on climate. One area of focus for the conference is on climate and history, with specific attention to the Anthropocene and interactions between humans and climate. The conference will also hold panels on contemporary issues associated with climate change, such as risk management and health. The conference will be held from February 7-10, 2017, in Canberra, Australia. The call for abstract submissions will go out in two weeks (Monday, June 28, 2016) at www.amos.org.au. Click here to download a conference poster with more information.
Call for Papers: Georgetown University Graduate Conference on Global Environmental History
The Department of History at Georgetown University invites paper proposals from graduate students for a one-day conference on world environmental history. Papers dealing with all themes in environmental history, from every world region and during any time period, are welcome. The conference will be held on November 5, 2016 at Georgetown University. Interested students should submit a 200-300 word abstract and a brief curriculum vitae to Faisal Husain (fh204@georgetown.edu). The deadline for abstract submissions is June 17, 2016. Successful applicants will be notified in early July and asked to submit a full version of their papers by September 23. Click here for more information.
Hunger and Famine in Medieval Societies
The Junior Research Group is holding a special session on hunger and famine in medieval societies as part of the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. The session is organized in two panels which aim to explore the causes, courses, and consequences of famines in the Middle Ages. There is a special focus on adverse climate impacts, which, along with changing social, economic, and political conditions, often exacerbated food crises and resulted in famines. The International Medieval Congress will be held at the University of Leeds from July 4 to 7, 2016. Click here for more information.
Climate Change and History Research Initiative Annual Colloquium
On Monday, May 23, 2016 the Climate Change and History Research Initiative at Princeton University will be hosting a multidisciplinary conference. The theme of the conference is resilience to climate change in Eurasia and the Mediterranean. There will be four panels, with two to three speakers presenting in each, as well as a concluding session. Each panel will be followed by a roundtable discussion. The event will take place at 216 Aaron Burr, Princeton University, between 9:00am and 6:00pm. Click here to download a conference poster with more information.