Nicholas Cunigan, our newsletter editor, has published the Winter 2016 issue of our quarterly Climate History Newsletter. This issue features good news about upcoming conferences and grants successes; updates on new articles and interviews; and of course our usual list of new publications in the field.
Download the issue by clicking here.
Coral Reefs and Paleoclimatology
New research from coral samples confirms that ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) events have increased in both intensity and frequency throughout the twentieth century. Paleoclimatologist Kim Cobb, of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and her team of researchers have been drilling coral samples in Kiribati and using them to build a historical record of ocean temperatures and rainfall patterns in the Pacific that stretches back 7,000 years. Such evidence forms the basis for Cobb’s forthcoming work, which argues that the size and frequency of ENSO events, although varying widely over past millennia, steadily increased during the twentieth century. Click here for the full article published by Hakai Magazine.
Call for Papers: Historical Climatology at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2017
Stefan Grab and co-conveners have organized a session on historical climatology at this year’s EGU general assembly. This session seeks papers that: produce historical climate chronologies; provide insights into past climatic periods or specific weather events; look closely at the environmental and human consequences to past climate and weather; share people’s experiences and perceptions of past climate, weather events and climate change; and reflect on lessons learned (coping and adaptation) from past climate and weather events. The conveners are open to studies from across the globe but are particularly interested in papers about Asia and the Middle East. The deadline for abstract submission is January 11, 2017. Click here for more information on the session and here for detailed instructions on abstract submission.
Past Global Changes Magazine: "Climate Change and Cultural Evolution"
This issue of Past Global Changes Magazine aims to highlight how social decisions in the face of environmental change had long-lasting consequences for the evolution and development of prehistoric societies. The issue is available at http://pastglobalchanges.org/products/pages-magazine/7360-24-2-climate-change-and-cultural-evolution
Past Global Changes Magazine, vol. 24(2), 53-84, 2016 10.22498/pages.24.2
Georgetown University's Mellon-Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Environmental Humanities
Georgetown University is looking for a one-year Mellon-Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Environmental Humanities on the subject “Approaching the Anthropocene: Global Culture and Planetary Change.” Applicants should be working in the Environmental Humanities, broadly construed, but could come from any humanities discipline, such as Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Geography, History, Literary and Cultural Studies, Philosophy, or Religious Studies. The annual salary is $55,000. Applicants must have their degree in hand by July 1, 2017 and must submit a cover letter summarizing their dissertation work, as well as a CV, a 20 page writing sample, and contact information for three academic references. The application is due February 1, 2017. Click here for more information.
Call for Papers: Adaptation and Resilience to Droughts - Historical Perspectives in Europe and Beyond
The Institute of Imagery, City and Environment (LIVE) of the University of Strasbourg has the pleasure of inviting you to participate in the international symposium on:
"Adaptation and Resilience to Droughts: Historical perspectives in Europe and beyond"
taking place from the 1st to 2nd June, 2017 at the University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
This symposium aims at reinforcing knowledge on historical droughts in Europe, in view of anticipating extreme droughts and improving adaption to future droughts. It is supported by an international scientific committee and intends to advance research in this, as yet little developed field.
We welcome expressions of interest for papers that focus on the following themes:
1 – Narratives sources for reconstructing droughts
2 – The variability and spatial extent of droughts
3 – Adaptation modes of societies
4 – The memory of droughts
Abstracts outside these themes are also welcome.
We invite you to submit an abstract for oral or poster presentation before the 31st December 2016. Proposals from all disciplines are welcome. They should include: Title of the proposed paper, 5 key words and contact information (affiliation, e-mail).
Deadline for abstracts: 31st December 2016
Acceptance of abstracts: 31st January 2017
Please submit abstracts to Alexis Metzger: alexis.metzger@live-cnrs.unistra.fr
Call for Papers: Soviet and Post-Soviet Imaginings of Climate
Dates: 29th-30th March, 2017
Location: King’s College London, UK
Deadline for Abstracts: 15th January 2017
This workshop will explore the relationship between the science, politics and policy of climate change in the post-Soviet world, by considering the historical development of the concept of climate change as a scientific thesis, environmental problem and policy issue. We invite papers that will complement work on the history of the discursive political construction of climate change in the West by examining a highly contrasting (but intimately related) cultural context. In so doing the workshop will provide an in-depth look at how post-Soviet understandings of climate change (scientific, environmental and political) have developed and how they affect post-Soviet policy
If you wish to present a paper, please submit an abstract of up to 250 words via email to Dr Teresa Ashe (t.ashe@open.ac.uk) with the subject heading “Soviet and Post-Soviet Imaginings of Climate’” by 15th January 2017. You will be notified of the decision on your abstract via email by 1st February 2017.
All queries should be emailed to Dr Marianna Poberezhskaya (Marianna.poberezhskaya@ntu.ac.uk) or Dr Teresa Ashe (t.ashe@open.ac.uk).