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As we move further into the Enlightenment age, meteorology gains a new definition. It expands from just observational documentation of weather to a more physical, chemical, and laboratory-based science. People start to move away from religious explanations for climatic phenomena. Last week’s readings also described this thinking, where Northern lights, winds, and clouds were read as God’s messages, warnings, and punishments in response to humans’ moral corruption against religious beliefs. European expansion to other areas, such as America, also brought climate change to those areas, which they believed was beneficial since it was so cold and ‘unlivable.’ The deforestation was seen as bringing civilization to those areas because it made the land warmer, which scientists like Priestley understood. However, they also learned that trees help purify the air, something that people understood as important for human health and wellbeing, as was described in the Golinski reading. People understood that they were changing the climate around them by warming the land, but didn’t see it as something harmful. As was brought up in class, there might have been a sense of accomplishment that came from the advancement of science and meteorology. The climate that had historically been so dominant in people’s lives as it greatly determined their health and societies could now be controlled by humans. However, this was not only discovered during the Enlightenment by Europeans; there were civilizations and peoples that thrived in areas like America before Europeans arrived, and they also has a sort of control over the climate which was not acknowledged by these settlers.