This week's readings I found particularly interesting due to the significance introduced for the little ice age and the building upon of previous ideas related to climate modeling introduced in previous weeks. My knowledge of the little ice age prior to this was lacking, so it was interesting exploring its significance in relation to climate history and, by proxy, of the video global warming denialism. The Behringer reading made interesting connections between various historical and cultural events in the range of roughly 1300-1800 CE and the little ice age. Notably, I thought the connections on witch trials and the shifts in architecture to be the most interesting. Behringer observed that as the colder climate and harsher weather of the little ice age set in causing storms, bad harvests, and animal problems which in turn led to sickness, birthing issues, and famine people began to search for 'scapegoats'. A group of people to blame for this, at the time, inexplicable string of misfortune and strife. Overall, Behringer extrapolated that this led people to rationalize that these troubles had to be occurring for a reason, that some 'sin' had been committed that led to a punishment on humanity. This then led to seeking out 'witches' as individuals who had dealings with the devil and in some way were directly or indirectly responsible for the aforementioned issues. This wasn't entirely doom and gloom though as Behringer pointed out that these hard times led people to adapt and innovate in order to survive in harsher conditions. One primary example of this that I found interesting was the changes in household design. As the weather cooled and people were forced to spend more time inside their houses more effort was put into ensuring their warmth and comfort. Behringer highlights that windows changed from animal skin and cloth coverings to the glass that we are more familiar with today. Additionally, open hearths turned into kitchen stoves in order to conserve energy. I hadn't realized that Behringer had notable inaccuracies in his work as was pointed out during Thursday's lecture, so I will look at this information with a more keen eye, but overall I think Behringer's assertions on how culture and practices changed during this period to in some be linked to the little ice age. In relation to the video, I was worried about how quoting works such as Behringer's provided some credence to climate denialist arguments. So many of the comments were seemingly vindicated in their beliefs through a more robust, though ultimately still flawed, argument.
The Mauelschagen reading built upon the thinking we did for last week's reading and discussion around what role climate historians should play relative to climate modeling and other such endeavors. It introduced new ideas about the process of climate history, such as paleoclimatology and periodization, that interested me. It also emphasized some issues in bridging this knowledge into the current environment with the anthropocene. That is, that paleoclimatologist inherently examine and have knowledge of the Earth prior to shifts being made as a result of more recent global warming. Additionally, the Tapiador and Navarro reading also touched on this, but from the angle of the broader fields of interest. While the Maulschagen reading focused on the fields within climate history, this reading sought to identify and attempt to bridge the differences between social and natural sciences. It pointed out that inherent differences lie in these fields, such as the natural sciences operating under known principles while social sciences contain a multitude of different schools of thought, though I feel like they somewhat overblow the differences between the two fields. Some concepts are accepted as universal and concrete across the division because they are fundamental concepts. They have been confirmed through rigorous testing and exploration that are the result of often centuries of argument and different schools of thought coming together to the same realization. Much of the less defined aspects that are described for the social sciences were more related to the inherent presence of error and uncertainty in modeling in general. Overall, these readings both built on what I already knew and also introduced new concepts related to the little ice age that I wasn't aware of before that I am sure I will use again in the future of this class.