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Farmers May Have Kicked Off Local Climate Change 3,500 Years Ago

Scientific American - Posted: February 10th, 2012, 3:57pm EST

p Humans may have been causing climate change for much longer than we#8217;ve been burning fossil fuels . In fact, the agrarian revolution may have started human-induced climate changes long before the industrial revolution began to sully the skies. How? Through the clearing of forests , which still remains the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity./ppSediment cores from the mouth of the Congo River the deepest river in the world suggest that humans may have played a significant role in changing the landscapes of Central Africa . That river curves through the world#8217;s second-biggest lingering tropical forest , but it and its tributaries also flow through the savannas so prized by modern-day safaris./p a href=http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=farmers-may-have-kicked-off-local-climate-change-3500-years-ago[More]/a

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