Not Joke- New Study Claims Global Warming Caused The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

It looks as if the climate change moonbats are working on a brand new scare tactic. The new scenario is that global climate has driven major changes in human civilization before, and if we don't do something it will lead to the decline of Western Civilization (as if the career of Justin Bieber hasn't already started the decline).

The study conducted by Ulf Buentgen, of the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research examined tree rings to determine which years had lots of rain making it a good year for agriculture. The study published in the weekly journal, Science suggests that mild summers may have been the key to the rise of the Roman Empire—and that prolonged droughts, cold snaps, and other climate changes might have played a part in historical upheavals, from the barbarian invasions that brought about Rome's collapse to the Black Death that wiped out much of medieval Europe.

Good growth by oak and pine trees in central Europe in the past 2,500 years signalled warm and wet summers and coincided with periods of wealth among farming societies, for instance around the height of the Roman empire or in medieval times.

Periods of climate instability overlapped with political turmoil, such as during the decline of the Roman empire, and might even have made Europeans vulnerable to the Black Death or help explain migration to America during the chill 17th century.

Climate shifts that affected farm output were factors in "amplifying political, social and economic crises," said Ulf Buentgen.

So far that all seems reasonable, now the crazy part:

The study said the evidence, helping back up written records that are sparse in Europe more than 500 years ago, "may challenge recent political and fiscal reluctance" to slow projected climate change in the 21st century.

Modern societies seem less vulnerable but "are certainly not immune" to climate change, especially because migration "will not be an option in an increasingly crowded world," they wrote.

The U.N. panel of climate experts says that greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, will lead to more droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels that could swamp low-lying island states.

These guys are supposed to be smart right? Now if all of this climate change described in the study happened hundreds an in cases thousands of years ago, that was before man made machines started putting the exhaust of fossil fuels into the atmosphere causing this supposed global warming that is giving the world this extra cold winter. Sounds like a great argument that the climate change is created by nature not man.

The study said: "Wet and warm summers occurred during periods of Roman and medieval prosperity. Increased climate variability from AD 250-600 coincided with the demise of the western Roman empire and the turmoil of the migration period."

"Distinct drying in the 3rd century paralleled a period of serious crisis in the western Roman empire marked by barbarian invasion, political turmoil and economic dislocation in several provinces of Gaul," it said.

Temperatures and rainfall only returned to levels of the Roman period in the early 800s, around the time when new kingdoms consolidated in Europe.

The Black Death bubonic plague of the mid-14th century, for instance, was during an unstable, wet period. "From other studies we know that a more humid environment is more supportive for the dispersal of plague," Buentgen said. 

OK Class what did we learn? Wet weather may have contributed to the spread of the bubonic plague, and disingenuous scientists may have contributed to the spread of the global warming hoax plague.