area in the 13th century. As the basin's populations increased and began stretching the area's capacity to sustain the groups living there, there were also changes in the climate that altered food production and availability. These times were characterized by religious zealotry, terrorism, and chronic warfare. These were the end times for the Anasazi.
right now, we appear to be ahead of the cycle because in the intervening 8 centuries the military industrial complex, so eloquently described by Dwight Eisenhower has managed to usher us into a century already characterized by religious zealotry, terrorism, and increasing pressure for chronic warfare. the change in weather is already affecting food production in many parts of the world. Australia is in the eighth year of desperate drought.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article2465960.ece Thousands of farmers in India commit suicide because failed harvests have left them unable to plant new crops.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june07/farmers_06-26.html Even where food is still being produced, the stress in the oil industry increases the pressure on food production and distribution. Typical chemical farming is heavily dependent on petroleum products for fertilizer, pesticide, and transportation. Another effect on food production from oil industry problems is the use of corn for ethanol. This has already driven up the price of corn to a point where people who rely on cheap corn for basic food have been hurt by high corn prices driven by demand for ethanol.
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/biofuels-1018/Melting ice caps create an array of issues from changes in water levels to ecological unbalance caused by temperature changes which alter habitat and affect species vulnerable to subtle changes in salinity, temperature, amount of sunlight, etc. And already countries are trying to take ownership of new Northwest passages opened by melting ice.
throughout history, situations of chronic warfare exist in areas with scarce resources, conflict over access to water, and/or conflict over trade routes. All of these are inherent in the evidence of global warming already measurable and documented.
Many of the critics of global warming who said computer models could not be trusted turned out to be right. The projections were flawed. The computer models have not been able to keep pace with the accelerating change caused by the melting ice caps.