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Will the sky fall in? Global warming – an alternative view

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2010

Michael J. Rowland
Michael J. Rowland*
Affiliation:
*Department of Environment and Resource Management, G.P.O. Box 2454, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia (Email: mike.rowland@derm.qld.gov.au)
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Peter Mitchell (2008) has recently suggested in this journal that the world is facing a ‘catastrophe’ due to anthropogenic climate warming. Mitchell divides his commentary into two parts, and asks two key questions: what is the role of the archaeological community and individual archaeologists in this impending catastrophe and, how will this affect our day-to-day practice? I support most points in the second part (see Rowland 2008) but offer some alternative perspectives to issues raised in the first section of Mitchell's paper. There is a multiplicity of dimensions to the debate about ‘global warming’ (also referred to as ‘enhanced greenhouse warming’, ‘human-induced climate change’ or ‘anthropogenic warming’), including the socio-political milieu, the climate science itself and resulting government policies and guidelines. Archaeologists/anthropologists have a role to play in each of these areas; in particular the longue durée of the archaeological record can provide some fresh insights, a point on which bothMitchell and I agree. Where I differ fromMitchell is that I see a need to refocus the debate toward issues of sustainability and away from the current over-emphasis on global warming.

Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 326 , December 2010 , pp. 1163 - 1171
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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