Caption: By the year 1000, humans had already cleared much land across the globe, for agriculture and other uses. In this computer simulation, darker greens signify higher levels of natural vegetation. Kaplan et al/The Holocene 2011
SANTA FE, N.M. — People started influencing their home planet’s climate millennia before the industrial revolution’s fossil fuel–burning machines began spewing carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, a new study suggests.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.
