If you have
read enough ancient history, or maybe even just a little bit, you will know
that ancient civilisations died for a host of different reasons. Sometimes they
were conquered by more powerful nations, sometimes they ran out key resources
to make their society function, sometimes they died of plague or disease, or
other disasters, sometimes they were just overrun by constant streams of invaders. But there is a key element that was often involved with a host
of these other factors: climate change.
Climate Change is by no means a modern phenomenon, or a man-made issue for civilisation. Climate change is a constant factor in this fallen world, where everything, including the aggregate weather of regions and the world, otherwise known as climate, are subject to decay because of Adam’s sin. Sometimes this took out very complex and sophisticated societies. Like the Indus Valley civilisation.
There is much we don’t know about this society, as it thoroughly disappeared,
“But one mystery looms larger than the rest: How, when and
why did the Indus valley civilization disappear?
Experts generally agree that a drought hit the
Indus valley around 4,200 years ago, but the “exact timing and magnitude” of
these dry conditions was unknown, researchers said in a study published April 4
in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
Answers to these elusive questions were hiding in the
Dharamjali Cave in the Himalayas.
Near the far end of the shallow cave, researchers seeking to
solve the mystery found a stalagmite with a telling combination of features.
The cave formation was in a weather-susceptible habitat — yet protected enough
that it formed during this ancient period.
Based on layered mineral deposits in the stalagmite,
researchers reconstructed historic rainfall patterns beginning 4,200 years ago,
the study said.
Their results offered a slightly different and much more
detailed picture of ancient life than that of previous experts. Rather than a
“single megadrought that lasted about 100–200 years,” researchers identified
“three major dry periods” between 4,200 and 3,900 years ago with each period
“lasting 25–90 years.”[i]
What killed
this civilisation? Climate change in other words. Their climate changed and
they could no longer sustain their way of life. Some might see in this a strong argument for us to do more to combat climate change. But, really it
should teach us the opposite. Why?
Well, all
human societies to one degree or another are dependent on their climate. If the
weather is too extreme, then it makes it hard for life to flourish, which is
why the only people in Antarctica, officially at least, are seasonal researchers
doing various kinds of surveys and the like. The closer you get to the poles,
the lower populations get. The more desert you live amongst the same thing happens. So, all civilisations must work within their local climates.
But modern
technology has enabled humanity to largely overcome the dangers of climate. We
don’t have to rely on sunshine alone to warm us, we can live in coal powered heated
homes. We can truck or pipe water in over long distances. We can overcome the
dangers of travelling on foot across dangerous environmental hazards with
trains, planes and automobiles, and boats. We can overcome many of the ways
that nature wants to kill us, with floods, storms, cyclones and other elemental
dangers.
Ancient
societies often disappeared in bad climates, precisely because they were dependent
on various renewable technologies and did not have the vast access to the fossil
fuels that we do. They were completely at the mercy of the climate, we have overcome
that in large measure. And forcing society to go back to wind, sun and water
driven power, will place human civilisation again at the mercy of windless
days, cloudy seasons and low water flow. All these things can slow even a
modern society down. But if they went on for too long ancient societies could
not survive. Modern society can counteract these issues to a larger degree.
Living at
the mercy of the climate is a foolish way to go as a society. We want to work
with nature wisely and sustainably. But we should not see nature as a benign
force that means humanity no harm. Nature, and this includes the full rage of climate, can be ruthless. It has no pity for mankind or beast, and therefore, we should not
reject the Christian principle that it needs subjection, or we will place our
way of life in great jeopardy.
References
[i] Indus
valley civilization disappeared 3,600 years ago — we finally know why, study
says,
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