GGG Ping.
“As the worldwide climate changes “
Oh, and speaking of global warming they are forecasting a touch of snow for Easter Sunday here in Dallas.
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ping.
“Did Viking settlers pillage their environment?”
Ummm, most assuredly. And a lot of other people’s environments, too. Stupid question; to simply live is to use resources.
“The historical picture the sagas create is in some ways incomplete and colored by medieval sensibilities, so excavations such as McGovern’s provide the only direct evidence of life during the landnám. “
The written sagas are the final products of an effort at compilation of various oral traditions. It stands to reason they are “incomplete” (and more than likely innacurrate in many cases, too) for this reason alone. As pure history, they leave a lot to be desired (unless we find sagas with a known individual, event or such, that we can corroborate). As entertainment and an insight into the past, though, they are quite an adequate starting point as to guessing at the conditions under which men lived at that time.
“”There is a sense of these people almost getting it right for a very long period of time and then something happens and they go over a threshold.”
Overpopulation, perhaps? Iceland became a popular destination for the outlawed, the banished and the adventurous, as well as the more mundane types of settlers and traders.Doesn’t take a genius: finite space(island) = finite resources. Add more folks to the equation and things get rather stressful in a hurry.
“McGovern hopes to learn more about how the Viking settlers managed to avoid destroying their land for centuries before the environment reached that point.”
Two guesses: as time passed and the warring Scandanavian jarls formed secure kingdoms ruled by Christian Kings, able to preside over some semblance of order and economic stability, some (maybe most) returned home to continental Europe. We know some at least tried to emigrate further west, as well. Perhaps the mounting pressure of looming overpopulation at this point was relieved by one or both of these events?
“As the worldwide climate changes and natural resources are exploited to their limits, Iceland may become an example for other nations that are approaching their own thresholds. Looking out over the farm’s eroded remains, it isn’t exactly clear whether we are seeing the past or the future.”
I’m not even sure at how to respond to this. The author seems to imply that Iceland is some miracle of environmental conservation in the beginning of this paragraph and then ends by insinuating that it is perhaps a foretaste of eco-doom with this sentence?
Obviously the settlers on Iceland could not have survived there without pastures for their animals and fields for their crops.
If the environmental extremists had their way, we’d all commit suicide so we’d stop exhaling dirty greenhouse gases. They’re working on it, in any case.
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Perhaps there are some forms of vegetation which can replace what was lost.
This isn’t unusual in human history. Most of the Mediterranean Islands look as barren as they are thanks to goats, which can actually climb trees to defoliate them.
EEEVIL white male ping!
Most interesting.
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