Professor Dagomar Degroot, Ph.D., Founder and Director
I am an assistant professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. I use documentary sources to complement interdisciplinary reconstructions of natural changes in past climates. Armed with these reconstructions, I uncover links between past climate changes and the turbulent human history of the past five centuries. I am especially interested in stories of adaptation and resilience in the face of past climate change, because I believe they can help us prepare for life on a warmer planet.
In 2010, I created this site to share scholarship of climates past, present, and future with those searching for new insights on global warming. HistoricalClimatology.com currently receives over 500,000 hits a year. It has been cited by the BBC, listed among the top web resources on climate change, and used in course curricula.
For more about my work, please visit my website.
In 2010, I created this site to share scholarship of climates past, present, and future with those searching for new insights on global warming. HistoricalClimatology.com currently receives over 500,000 hits a year. It has been cited by the BBC, listed among the top web resources on climate change, and used in course curricula.
For more about my work, please visit my website.
Professor Bathsheba Demuth, Ph.D., Assistant Director
I am an assistant professor of environmental history at Brown University, where I study the relationship between humans and the arctic environment, especially the links between ideology, economic development, and ecological change.
My current project is a comparative history of the Bering Straits region, from the 1850s until the fall of the Soviet Union. Based on research in local archives and communities in Alaska and Siberia as well as large national collections, I am exploring how capitalist, and later communist, development strategies attempted to extract energy from the Seward and Chukchi peninsulas. These two halves of the Bering Straits share an ecological and geological context, one with limited solar gain and almost no fossil fuels, making them challenging for agriculture or industry. Both the United States and the governments of Russia, however, sought to exploit what energy did exist - in the bodies of whales, walrus, reindeer, and other species - and in the process fundamentally altered local ecosystems while participating in the large-scale use of carbon energy that has contributed to climate change across the arctic and the globe.
My current project is a comparative history of the Bering Straits region, from the 1850s until the fall of the Soviet Union. Based on research in local archives and communities in Alaska and Siberia as well as large national collections, I am exploring how capitalist, and later communist, development strategies attempted to extract energy from the Seward and Chukchi peninsulas. These two halves of the Bering Straits share an ecological and geological context, one with limited solar gain and almost no fossil fuels, making them challenging for agriculture or industry. Both the United States and the governments of Russia, however, sought to exploit what energy did exist - in the bodies of whales, walrus, reindeer, and other species - and in the process fundamentally altered local ecosystems while participating in the large-scale use of carbon energy that has contributed to climate change across the arctic and the globe.
Ph.D. Candidate Katrin Kleemann, M.A., Social Media Editor
I am a doctoral candidate at the Rachel Carson Center of the LMU Munich, where I analyze the impacts and perceptions of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the early modern period.
My current project focuses on the Icelandic Laki fissure eruption of 1783, which did not affect European air traffic but had consequences that were noticeable and visible way beyond Iceland: A dry fog was visible above most of Europe for two months during the summer of 1783. The contemporaries in Europe were not aware of the Icelandic eruption at the time, so they came up with creative theories as to the origin of the fog and the extraordinary weather of the summer. In my project I research the eruption’s impacts on the northern hemisphere, currently I am focusing on the German territories. My project is located in the field of environmental history, historical climatology, cultural history, history of science, and geology. I’m researching a past volcanic eruption in order to understand its impacts better, so that it can help us prepare for future volcanic eruptions.
My current project focuses on the Icelandic Laki fissure eruption of 1783, which did not affect European air traffic but had consequences that were noticeable and visible way beyond Iceland: A dry fog was visible above most of Europe for two months during the summer of 1783. The contemporaries in Europe were not aware of the Icelandic eruption at the time, so they came up with creative theories as to the origin of the fog and the extraordinary weather of the summer. In my project I research the eruption’s impacts on the northern hemisphere, currently I am focusing on the German territories. My project is located in the field of environmental history, historical climatology, cultural history, history of science, and geology. I’m researching a past volcanic eruption in order to understand its impacts better, so that it can help us prepare for future volcanic eruptions.
Ph.D. Candidate Faisal Husain, M.A., Projects Editor
I am a PhD candidate in Georgetown University’s Department of History, and I currently serve on the editorial board of Global Environment.
My dissertation, “Ottoman Rivers: The Tigris and Euphrates, 1514-1831,” examines the establishment of a unified Ottoman imperial regime over the entirety of the Tigris and Euphrates flow in the early sixteenth century and the consequences of this dramatic political transition on the state, riparian communities, and the environment. My articles related to the topic have appeared in Environmental History and Journal of Interdisciplinary History.
My dissertation, “Ottoman Rivers: The Tigris and Euphrates, 1514-1831,” examines the establishment of a unified Ottoman imperial regime over the entirety of the Tigris and Euphrates flow in the early sixteenth century and the consequences of this dramatic political transition on the state, riparian communities, and the environment. My articles related to the topic have appeared in Environmental History and Journal of Interdisciplinary History.
Ph.D. Candidate Benoit S. Lecavalier, M.Sc., Contributing Editor
I am a doctoral candidate at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. I apply computer models to simulate the evolution of ice sheets and sea level in response to climate change.
My recent focus is on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet over the past 125 thousand years. I access the quality of any given model reconstruction by directly comparing the simulation to field observations. Through the implementation of model developments and additional field constraints, we improve the model's ability to predict past changes. Thereby, our overall knowledge of the climate system increases and leads to a better understanding of how ice sheets and sea level will change to future climatic conditions.
My recent focus is on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet over the past 125 thousand years. I access the quality of any given model reconstruction by directly comparing the simulation to field observations. Through the implementation of model developments and additional field constraints, we improve the model's ability to predict past changes. Thereby, our overall knowledge of the climate system increases and leads to a better understanding of how ice sheets and sea level will change to future climatic conditions.
