In a previous post, E.P. referred to a Dr. Peiser. I did a little searching and found this article from 2005.

Amid modern fears that so-called "global warming" could potentially destroy our civilization, Dr Peiser has studied factors that have contributed to the collapse of urban civilizations. The fall of the Akkadian era, and the demise of the Hittites, Mycenaeans, Mayans and even the Roman Empire were triggered by climate change --but not the kind you might think.

Dr Peiser told the 2003 annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society that "none of the known cases of civilization collapse has ever been linked to episodes of global warming, but many are thought to have happened during climatic downturns."

"Warmer temperatures... have never contributed to the decline or disintegration of any society, but have been mostly advantageous," said Dr Peiser.

Source

In the linked article, Dr. Ruddimen argues that the decline in human populations and activities due to the bubonic plague contributed to the Little Ice Age. Others, like Jeff Severinghaus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego are more skeptical: "I doubt that ancient humans could have done that," he says.

Well, there's the AGW argument in a nutshell: either human activities affect global climate to a significant degree, or they don't. Forgive the tautology. If the sun's current dormant period results in global cooling despite apparently rising levels of CO2, then the theory of CO2-driven AGW is falsified. Personally, I would prefer and hope that AGW is falsified by other means. Recall that many thousands of innocents were burnt at the stake in Europe during the LIA, Greenland was abandoned by Europeans, the English wine industry went kaput, and priests were sent out to exorcise advancing glaciers.

Meanwhile, the Wall St. Journal is reporting on The Climate-Industrial Complex.

We are told that very expensive carbon regulations are the only way to respond to global warming, despite ample evidence that this approach does not pass a basic cost-benefit test. We must ask whether a "climate-industrial complex" is emerging, pressing taxpayers to fork over money to please those who stand to gain.

This phenomenon will be on display at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen this weekend. The organizers -- the Copenhagen Climate Council -- hope to push political leaders into more drastic promises when they negotiate the Kyoto Protocol's replacement in December.

The opening keynote address is to be delivered by Al Gore, who actually represents all three groups: He is a politician, a campaigner and the chair of a green private-equity firm invested in products that a climate-scared world would buy.

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