15. Dagomar Degroot on Historical Climatology and the Frigid Golden Age

Challenging Climate

Dagomar Degroot is an associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. In this episode, we spoke with Dagomar about historical climatology and how the past can inform us about contemporary climate change. We cover his book, The Frigid Golden Age, and why societies like the Dutch and Thule thrived while the Norse suffered when the climate changed. Dagomar also addresses existing biases in the field of historical climatology.

Links:

• Dagomar Degroot’s profile
• Historical climatology website
• Dagomar’s book, The Frigid Golden Age
• The Nature article outlining the baises in History of Climate and Society
• Another article by Dagomar on The Washington Post, “Our planet is not doomed. That means we can, and must, act.”

Support the show

Subscribe for email updates

Chapters

1. 15. Dagomar Degroot on Historical Climatology and the Frigid Golden Age (00:00:00)

2. Introduction and background (00:02:34)

3. What is historical climatology? (00:05:13)

4. Can climate change cause human conflict? (00:11:26)

5. The evolution of historical climatology, criticisms and biases (00:17:16)

6. The Frigid Golden Age: War, culture and innovation (00:28:26)

7. What lessons about climate change can we draw from this? (00:48:28)

8. Our planet is not doomed... is it? (00:55:08)