The History of Climate Science: As Old as Thought

It's human nature to consider the world around us. In ancient Greece, Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle, conjectured that draining marshlands made those areas more susceptible to freezing, and that deforestation would result in those areas getting warmer. Vitruvius could be considered one of the first to draft an environmental impact report in the first century B.C. when he wrote about climate in relation to architecture and where to build new cities.

Glacial Ice

People's understanding of climate and the way it changes has been developing for years. In the Enlightenment era, people began to understand how ancient climate systems could have effected modern conditions, including the idea that glaciers could have existed previously where they currently didn't. Geologists discovered evidence of different geological ages, and evidence was accepted that there had been "Ice Ages".

In the late 19th century, around the time of industrialization, scientists began to suspect that human actions had some impact on the environment around them. Evidence accumulated for decades until finally, in the 1950's, better instrumentation allowed for more conclusive data that indicated that CO2 emissions were, in fact, causing an increase in the amount of infrared radiation reflected by the atmosphere. In other words, the world was getting warmer, and we were a factor in that.

This history is important to me. Climate science is not a new invention. It's not a scare tactic fabricated by scientists in order to get themselves more funding. It's a discipline that has been growing and evolving for literal centuries. Just as all science does, it has changed. The cutting edge and major concerns of the field have shifted. It's become more prominent as the discoveries and findings have become more dramatic, but the climate science we see today is just the latest version of an age old tradition.

Hot Spots in Ecology

• Invasive Species:

Burmese pythons are capable of reaching 23 ft.
in length and weighing up to 200lbs. Some of
them get to be as thick as telephone poles.

One of the hazards of living in a global community is the inadvertent exchange of organisms. Invasive species are not a new problem. They've been an issue since ships started sailing to new waters and bringing back foreign mussels. The fact remains, however, that allowing an organism to enter an environment where it doesn't have any natural predators upends the native ecosystem. This has been a problem for a long time in the Everglades with the Burmese python, but it looks like thing might be getting worse. No one knows how to stop them, and no one knows how much they'll affect the ecosystem. See: Giant hybrid pythons in Florida

• Conservation:

Photo by Michael LaRosa on Unsplash

Ecosystems all over the world have been disrupted by human development. Some of them irreparably so, but others can be salvaged. The mission of many ecologists is to preserve as much as possible and to restore what they can. "Rewilding" natural predators is a technique being used with marginal success in Yellowstone National park, where the reintroduction of the gray wolf has resulted in an ecological rebirth for the area. Adding large predators back into their native ecosystems has its problems- it causes tension with their human neighbors, and in most cases, the animals are unable to re-adapt to the wild. See: 'Rewilding' Missing Carnivores

• Climate Change:

Possibly the hottest topic of them all, climate change is hotly debated in this country, the split between believers and unbelievers often mimicking party lines. If our actions are effecting the environment, then we need to act fast and act now. If not, there's nothing to worry about. But there is something to worry about. The vast majority of ecologists and climate scientists agree that uncharacteristic changes are happening at alarming and unnatural rates, and we are the driving cause of that. If concern for the climate wasn't politicized, it would be so much easier to try to save a dying world. See: Trump's EPA chief on the Climate Report

This last one is the most concerning for me. All of the data that I have come across is clear, concise, and speaks for itself. Our world is suffering, and it is in our power to do something about it. The biggest problem is the way the data points are communicated. Their either put across as too threatening by those who agree, or too dismissively by those who dissent. There has to be a more moderate, less rhetorically and politically charged way to address this issue. I've got to believe that there is.

Python Photo Credit

All in Balance

Winston Churchill is indisputably one of the greatest orators of all time. His speeches rallied nations, his voice was a constant during Europe's most terrifying conflict. He became a trusted force for justice and freedom in the world, and was regarded as such long after his term as Prime Minister had concluded. It was in this attitude that he delivered his speech, "The Sinews of Peace" only 8 months after WWII had ended. What impressed me so much about this address was the balance between all three persuasive appeals. Churchill employed them effortlessly, creating an airtight argument for his view of the world condition at the time.

He begins with a brief appeal to pathos, marking the short time since the war had passed before engaging in a thorough and well organized logical analysis of the state of world affairs. He speaks of the necessity of the world organization in guarding against war and tyranny. He states that the world needs a global armed force. He describes the situation in Eastern Europe dispassionately, stating facts with little to no leaning into pathos. He saves that.

Delicately, he implies that the success of the UNO depends on the success and influence of the U.S.'s treaties outside that order, appealing to his relationship to the country as the leader of it's former ally. He calls upon the U.S., as the foremost world power, to lead the world in freedom and liberty. He disavows his interest and ambition in world affairs saying, "any private ambitions I may have cherished in my younger days have been satisfied beyond my wildest dreams". He thus presents himself as an old and cherished friend, arrived to lend some advice near and dear to his heart.

And so, with logos and ethos carefully balanced, Churchill delivers his most poignant blow- War is not inevitable. It can be prevented. It could have been prevented if they'd listened to him before the last war. Hopefully, they'll listen to him now, and take his advice.

It's a brilliant construction to a cogent point. Only with the solid support of his relationship to the nation to whom he was speaking and the factual backing of the situation in Europe could he make the appeal for them to listen to him, or risk the end of the world as we know it.

That's Not the Point

There is no glory in war. I know that. I don't know it first hand, of course, but I've been taught over and over throughout the years by study of war after war that there is nothing glorious, nothing to be sought after in man's conflict against man. That said, studying WWI drives that home to me more poignantly than any other conflict. Maybe it's the dull waiting of the stale-mated trenches. Maybe it's the bleakness of no-man's land. Maybe it's the devastation and inescapability of mustard gas. Or something else. I don't know.

Art inspired by "In Flanders Feilds" by John McRae

No one knew. WWI was a war that came at the end of a line of dominoes. No one knew why anyone was fighting, really. And it dragged on. It got messy. It became big. Broken. Incomprehensible. I can't say that I've studied WWI in depth, but every brush I've had with it through art or film or literature has left me with a longing to understand. It seems to pour out of the souls of everyone who was involved in the conflict, either directly or indirectly. "Why? Why did this happen? Why did we allow this to destroy so many lives?"

"A Very Long Engagement" speaks to that longing for truth. It's a beautiful movie that embraces the Romantic ideal of letting some things be too big to be resolved. The heroine, Mathilde, sets herself on a seemingly impossible journey to find the truth of what happened to her fiance in the war. She follows her heart. She leads with her irrationality, and it leads her to rational discovery upon rational discovery. That was actually one of my favorite parts of the film. At crucial moments, when everything seemed to be suspended in uncertainty, hovering over the void of crushing disappointment, Mathilde would seek the truth in the mundane. She'd say to herself, "If my dog comes in before dinner is ready, then there's still hope." She'd wait. Often, the parameters she'd set for her hope wouldn't be filled. But she'd keep going.

She wanted her fiance to be alive. That was her driving purpose. But it wasn't the point. The point was finding the truth. Mathilde hardly wasted time asking "why". She accepted that "why" was too big. To incomprehensible. "What" was what concerned her, and it was the only thing that mattered. The truth could have been hideous, and often was, it wouldn't matter. She needed to know.

Nothing was really resolved at the end of the film. The war had still ruined the lives of almost everyone depicted. People were dead. Holes were blown in reality. Nobody had any answer for why any of it had happened. But resolution wasn't the point. Mathilde found the truth. One unknowable became known,though it was at the price of uncovering a thousand more unanswerable questions. Nothing was fixed. But that was fine. Fixing things wasn't the point.

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Desperation

My dad is a graphic artist by trade, so growing up, I learned a lot about art. The art gene missed me. On a good day I can maybe draw a respectable stick figure. But art theory and art history permeated my childhood. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent wandering through museums with my dad, talking to him about different paintings and why they were good. All this to say, I have an interesting relationship with paintings. I feel like I know when one is good, but I could never tell you what it is that makes it that way.

Le Desespere, Gustav Courbet

Le Desespere by Gustave Courbet is a painting like that for me. I feel like I know this man. There is something about the expression in the eyes and the gentle tugging of the hair that is striking to me. I can see in this man's face that same kind of blank panic that grips me more often than I like to admit. The warm tone of the painting, and the sharp contrast between light and shadow makes my breath catch- it stills my heart to a stop. When I look at this painting feel like I'm caught in a moment that I've been in a million times. The moment before simmering stress breaks into full panic.

This painting meant a lot to Courbet, too. It was a self portrait, and he carried it with him wherever he went, even into his exile from France. I understand that, on a certain level. As much as desperation and panic are unsavory parts of my life, I have to remember them. Somehow, remembering the times of disorientation makes reality seem more real, and the present more tangible.

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But Now, I Thought

I'm not sure how to say this without sounding pretentious, but I'm pretty well read. I've been around the proverbial literary block and because of this, I thought I knew what to expect from Jane Eyre. Not only were my expectations completely wrong, I had absolutely no concept of what I was getting myself into. It was an exhilarating experience. Every now and again, there is a novel that is really, truly new. It's a departure from everything that has been done before. It strikes out into new terrain. Jane Eyre is a novel like that.

The most remarkable thing about the novel to me, and to most of the people I've talked to about this book, is how strong the character of Jane is. She's a force of nature. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She thinks, and she decides things.  At a crucial point in the narrative, Jane makes this statement that sums up her attitude toward life brilliantly.

"till now I had only heard, seen, moved-followed up and down where I was lead or dragged- watched event rush upon event, disclosure open upon disclosure: but now, I thought." (pg. 267)

Rather than being pushed about from plot point to plot point, Jane's character makes things happen, and takes charge of her own life. 

Portrait by J.H. Thompson at the Bronte Parsonage Museum

Reading about the history of this novel more, I found that Jane comes by her fortitude and depth of character honestly. Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, lived a very individualistic life. She lost her mother and several siblings when she was young. She, like Eyre, lived and eventually worked at schools far away from home. She wrote, despite social pressures, and published under a pseudonym in order to protect her privacy and to conceal her gender.

She didn't do what people thought was proper. She did was she decided to do, including, at one point, falling deeply in love with a married man. Bronte endowed her heroine with the same strong character that she had in abundance, and people felt the effects of it.

The book was a hit immediately. People saw it as fresh, raw and challenging the status quo- which it was. A book detailing the life of a woman who chose who she was going to be, who defied the circumstances of her birth and made something, not only respectable, but remarkable of herself, was in direct contrast to the almost fatalistic view of socioeconomic standing and rank-by-birth that prevailed at the time.

 It was revolutionary to purport that a man could become something of his own choosing- even more so to assert that a woman could do the same. It struck the hearts and deepest desires of everyone who read it, and it's still doing that today.

We are a lot more free to decide our own futures than those who read this book on it's first printing, but the message of unwavering identity, of choosing your own path, still resonates soundly. All of us, especially women, are still trying to find our voices. We're still trying to find the ground we're most comfortable standing on, and Jane Eyre speaks to that search eloquently.

The obstacles may change, the end goals may shift, but the yearning of the human soul to be expressed and individual will always be the same. And for as long as people are looking to the future with a hope of a better tomorrow, Jane Eyre will be there to urge them on.
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Jane Eyre

I've loved literature all my life, and as a result of that, I've heard a thing or two about the Bronte sisters. Somehow, however, I've managed to get to this point without reading a single one of their books. I'm excited to amend that. I've heard a great deal about Jane Eyre, and none of the reports really matched each other. I had no idea what to make of it coming into it, and I was surprised to find such effusive love for the novel within five minutes of looking into its significance.

Promotional image for Theatre Royal Plymouth's Jane Eyre

Based on my limited understanding of the plot, it seemed to me that Jane Eyre was another Pride and Prejudice type book with a healthy dose of Gothic style and characteristics. What I did not expect to find was a quote from Virginia Woolf describing the character of Eyre as ".. an overpowering personality... There is in [her] an untamed ferocity perpetually at war with the accepted order of things which makes [her] desire to create instantly rather than to observe patiently." Apparently, one of the most significant writers in history thought that there was more to this novel than it being just another windswept Regency- Era romance.

In fact, the general consensus, even in just a cursory glance of critical opinion on the text, seems to be that Jane Eyre, the book and the character, exude a sense of  'self' that was thrillingly new for the women of the time. While cogito ergo sum and a pursuit of a new rational order had come to the men, this narrative seems to be regarded as one of the first evidences of the concept and drive for individuality coming to women.

I'm excited to be wrong about this book. If a cursory search can yield such thrilling results, what will deeper perusal uncover?  I have a sneaking suspicion that Eyre asks herself a similar question- I look forward to joining her on that journey.

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Nothing Modest About It

If there is anyone in this world that you don't want to piss off, it's an Irishman. I'm not entirely sure how they came by it, but the Irish are full of a fire and glib that no one has yet succeeded in silencing. I wouldn't advise trying.

I used to live in the U.K., and my first encounter with an Irishwoman is seared into my memory forever. She couldn't have been more than five feet tall, but she was terrifying. It wasn't me, but someone had done something wrong and Ciara was full of an eloquent, hilarious anger the likes of which I had never before seen. I didn't know if I was allowed to laugh, but I definitely wanted to. Thankfully, I never ended up on the receiving end of that vitriol, and she and I ended up becoming really good friends. My relationship with Ciara helped me gain more understanding of these people and how they came to be the way they are.

Poster for a short film based on Swift's essay

The Irish have pride as deep as the land and a memory as long as their heritage. Right and wrong are certainties in that culture, and offences are remembered to their dying breaths. Through centuries of being deprived of identity, they developed their wit- the only defense that can't be stripped from them. They're brash, they're brave, and they're not afraid to be heard.

It's no surprise then, that arguable the world's greatest satirist, Johnathan Swift, sprang from Ireland. Swift is brutal in his analysis of government and society at large. His most famous piece A Modest Proposal, suggests that the solution to the famine in Ireland could be as simple as eating their children. It's a genius piece of writing and a scathing critique of Parliament's negligence.

Before the Enlightenment era and the advent of the public forum, the Irish and their unique perspective was confined to their island. But with the popularization of the press and a second swell of individualism, voices bubbled up from all kinds of forgotten places. Voices that become essential in shaping the future.
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The Bugs And the Bees

We all go through phases and cycles in our lives, but there's one that I've never been able to escape- I love bugs. It may sound like I'm joking, but I'm not. I fell in love with insects (especially ants) when I was a kid and I've never kicked it. Being a young girl obsessed with bugs wasn't the most popular thing to be, but it was who I was, and I really couldn't help it.

One of Merian's butterflies

I think that's why I felt such a strong an immediate connection to Maria Sibylla Merian, an entomological (bug scientist) painter from the Enlightenment period.  Born in Frankfurt Germany, Merian became intrigued with silk worms, and the possibility of them transforming into butterflies.She collected as many worms as she could find, watched them transform, and recorded their metamorphosis in painting.

Merian went on to record thousands of insects in painting, and her work as a naturalist illustrator has been considered the foundation of modern entomology, a field very dear to me. What's most interesting to me about Maria Sibylla Merian, however, is not just that she made these great contributions, but the circumstances that she made them under.

In the mid to late 1600's when she was illustrating, women were all but completely disregarded in the field of science. Merian's landmark book about the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies was ignored by scientific institutions because it was in German. Regardless of this, she went on a two year excursion to Suriname and discovered and painted enough new species of plant and insect to fill a book.

In a way, I feel like Merian was not only a crucial part of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution, but also a symbol of it. She strove on in the face of tremendous odds, she broke ground, she paved the way. But most importantly, she was interested in the metamorphosis of one remarkable thing into another, in observing that change and recording it. When it comes down to it, what else was the Enlightenment really about?

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Gaining Perspective

Masaccio's The Holy Trinity

In 1424, something remarkable happened. Masaccio, a fresco painter in Italy, delivered his commissioned work, The Holy Trinity, the first known work to feature perspective. Prior to this innovation, relative size in a painting signified relative importance. However, as Lewis Mumford
says, "in the new picture of the world, size meant not human or divine importance, but distance." This shift indicated a larger cultural shift toward emphasis on the individual that came with the humanism movement.

In embracing perspective, painters no longer pressed an interpretation on their viewers. Similarly, humanism advocated for the development of individual thought and character. Just as figure's importance in painted works was no longer defined by position, so was the common man no longer defined by his position in the world, but by what he decided to make of himself.

The concept of the individual came with the concept of an individual's responsibility for their own development. In The Courtier, Castiglione discusses traits that a good courtier should seek to develop to be truly useful to his prince. Those qualities, as discussed in this blog post, ranged from an understanding of history and philosophy to athleticism and romantic proficiency. As stated before, Castiglione implies heavily throughout the work that development of these traits ought to be the purpose of 'the courtier's' life. Responsibility belonged to the individual to become whatever he desired to be. The idealists of the time believed that it was innate in man to desire to become more.

Pico della Mirandola, a philosopher of the time, mused in his Oration on the Dignity of Man,

"Let some holy ambition invade our souls, so that, dissatisfied with mediocrity, we shall eagerly desire the highest things and shall toil with all our strength to obtain them, since we may if we wish."  (More on Pico and humanism here) 

As the Renaissance moved past its peak in Italy, humanism and the perspective it brought with it swept into the rest of Europe. The tide of that movement collided magnificently with the surge of reform that blazed both within and without the Catholic church to create Christian humanism, an ideology that existed and thrived on both sides of the Protestant rift. This evolution of the Renaissance ideology brought with it a new dimension to perspective and the notion of 'self'.

Before, it had been enough for a man to develop himself into whatever he might wish to become. The Christian aspect of Christian humanism, however, demanded not only development, but forward progress. Erasmus, widely acclaimed as the father of Christian humanism, made this point quite poignantly in his work In Praise of Folly, an essay written from the point of view of Folly herself. Erasmus, through Folly's advocation of it, condemns the notion that being stupid and happy is a better state of being that being uncomfortable and aware of the potential for growth.

Far from the lack of perspective that defined the age before, man's development of self grew to become the focus and expectation for those who had sufficient means to pursue that course. Not only that, but the responsibility for the development of self had become compounded with the responsibility for improvement of self. These developments set us soundly on the path to achieving the deep and widely resonate sense of self that permeates out global culture today.

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Riding Westward

Last year I took a class on the history of British literature. We ended up in a lot of interesting texts and poems during the course, but my favorite place that we landed was the metaphysical poetry of John Donne. Metaphysical poetry is interesting in that it's a sort of manifestation of the Renaissance spirit. It can be appreciated on the surface level for it's beauty and skill, but also included in the lines are references to a wide variety of sources. John Donne, for example, liked to call upon not only religious images, but also scientific and philosophical themes.

John Donne had a rough life. He was born a Roman Catholic in a time in England where that was illegal. He married the woman he loved in secret, and was thrown in jail for it. When he was released, he dealt with the deaths of several of his twelve children and eventually his dear wife, all while struggling financially.

On top of everything, he was 'encouraged' by the king to abandon his religion and become an Anglican priest, which, of course, he did. All through this, he wrote. Early on, he wrote some pretty bawdy stuff. But later, when the trouble hit, his poetry shows a deep commitment to his faith, to his God, whatever trappings the world may have put on Him.

"Hence is't, that I am carryed towards the West/
This day when my Soules forme bends toward the East." 

My favorite poem by John Donne is called Good Friday, 1613, Riding Westward. Due to the metaphysical nature of the poem, I can't say that I understand everything  Donne is trying to say to me. But I understand the feeling. He talks about how, on Good Friday, a day when all Christian hearts move eastward to the cross, he's facing the wrong direction. He goes on to wonder how anyone could bear to face eastward to see the Lord's suffering, finishing with a supplication to God for strength to be able to look on His face.

The Renaissance and Reformation was a time of "riding westward". It was a time of forging ahead into a new day all the while concerned that something important was being left behind. Donne speaks to that beautifully with a particular poignancy, having been Catholic and pressed forward by the movement of the time.

In the end though, the main reason I like John Donne so much has nothing to do with his profound eloquence or his remarkable ability to layer several meanings in a single line. Set aside the unique perspective and poetic brilliance and you see a man. A very human, very real man, trying his best in a world that hasn't done much for him.

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Russia: A Cross Section of Europe

Peter the Great- Tsar of Russia

I have always had an inexplicable fascination with Russia. As early as seventh grade, I found myself drawn to the policies and history of Russia. I guess I always found it confusing as a nation. Something about it seemed so irrevocably stuck in the past, yet simultaneously striving to snag a slice of Western Europe's power pie. It seemed to exist in two states of being concurrently. Until today, I could never quite account for that duality.

During the Renaissance, when there was a surge toward the new and innovative, Russia didn't budge. They clung to their traditions. Rather than returning to their roots to find the future, they stubbornly stayed medieval. Right up until the end of the 17th century, this remained unchanged. Then, Peter the Great took the throne.

Widely regarded as the most beloved leader in Russia's history, Peter the Great was a bridge between Western and Eastern Europe. Unlike previous Tsars, Peter was not only educated at
home with tutors, but went abroad and gained an interest in science and technology. When he returned to Russia, he made a full push to bring his country into the 17th century. He sponsored a generation of scholars to study in Western Europe so that he could cultivate that new learning. He even went so far as to ban certain traditions in Russia, forbidding his courtiers from wearing beards.

As is indicated by their continued love for him, the Russian people appreciated what Peter the Great was trying to do. They loved the western-style city he established- St. Petersburg. However, much of Russia continued to hold on to their traditions. Moving so abruptly from their near-medieval way of life to the end of the Renaissance era was too much for many people, and they stubbornly tried to remain the same.

Thus Russia became, and to a certain extent, continues to be, a link between the old and new in Europe. A perplexing place, where both ways of life coexist. All thanks to the Tsar who dreamed of more for his people, Peter the Great. 

https://www.biography.com/people/peter-the-great-9542228

More Curiosity than Capacity

Michel de Montaigne said in his anthropological account Of Cannibals, “I fear me our eyes be greater than our bellies, that we have more curiosity than capacity. We embrace all, but we fasten nothing but wind.” I believe that this speaks to a tremendous failing of the Renaissance voyages of discovery. Being confronted with dozens of new and diverse cultures from which to learn, Renaissance explorers chose instead to invalidate the experiences of other by holding their own aloft.

No doubt motivated by the newfound philosophy of humanism, which allowed for the glorification of the individual, those claiming to seek understanding in reality sought only a confirmation of their superiority. Montaigne speaks to this quite directly in his essay, a dramatic break from the trend seen in the essays of Sir Walter Raleigh and even the fictional account Utopia by Thomas More. Rather than claiming that these “savages” needed anything from him, Montaigne instead purports that his countrymen had much to learn from these people that he describes as “noble”, “generous” and “untainted”.

Humanism, as understood by Montaigne, is not the glorification of some individuals over others. It is seeing purpose and beauty in all things, even and especially those that differ from our own understanding. In this aspect, this period experienced a tremendous failure. The great scholars of the time had their sights so firmly focused on the past in attempt to recapture its grandeur that they failed to see the tremendous opportunities for learning that were in from of them. They sought to learn, to mark on maps, to collect accounts of strange peoples and things without any interest in understanding a different world view. Embracing all, but fastening on nothing but wind.