Even relatively minor changes throw our civilization and economy into panic and disarray. Drought in the Middle East is considered one of the factors that led t

Even relatively minor changes throw our civilization and economy into panic and disarray. Drought in the Middle East is considered one of the factors that led to the rise of ISIS [0]. But it's not the first time. Drought led to poor harvest which led to the French Revolution when grain prices got too high [1]. If you're wondering why the Netherlands has to reclaim land from the sea, if you wonder where it all went, it was a result of the Little Ice Age and a storm that devastated Northern Europe and washed much the of area out to sea [2]. Of course all of this happened outside of our modern worries about climate change... but it shows even "natural" changes in weather patterns can cause serious economic and cultural upheaval. What we're being warned of right now is far more serious and massive than we've ever seen before, including during all the time periods where drought and famine and storms have famously killed hundreds/thousands before [3]. All you can do is assume the worst. We've seen the impacts throughout history, we're dealing with some of them now. Northern Europe is still paying off the mitigation of the storm that destroyed their land... that storm happened 800 years ago. They'll be paying it off forever. If we have the ability to stop things like the Little Ice Age or the drought that caused the French Revolution, we should. Right now we're being warned of something like that, but many many times more dramatic. And we have a chance to slow it down. We need to take that chance. [0]: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/23/martin-omalley/fact-checking-link-between-climate-change-and-isis/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/... [1]: http://www.academia.edu/4794332/Drought_and_the_French_Revolution_The_effects_of_adverse_weather_conditions_on_peasant_revolts_in_1789 http://www.academia.edu/4794332/Drought_and_the_French_Revol... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Marcellus%27_flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Marcellus%27_flood [3]: https://xkcd.com/1732/ https://xkcd.com/1732/