Having read previous posts, you might be forgiven for thinking to yourself: 'What's the relevance of all this stuff?' or 'Why should I care about what happened over 1,200 years ago?'. These are very valid questions and while they have in-part been answered before, hopefully I can do it once-and-for-all here.
The crux of the matter is that understanding past climate changes helps us to predict future ones and potentially mitigate any great damages or losses that they might bring. Discovering that a serious drought occurred across Mesoamerica at approximately 900 AD helps us to become aware of the potential dangers that inhabitants face today. What's more important, though, is understanding why the drought occurred when it did and the main process through which it happened. This allows us to gain greater understanding of the environment in which we live and predict when future changes might occur. This knowledge may even be able to be applied to different areas of the globe.
Understanding the role that humans play is also important. As mentioned in this blog, for example, it has been modelled that there is great potential for anthropogenic deforestation to increase the severity of drought conditions in Central America. This finding was based on data from the past and can help direct environmental management policies that should be implemented today. This example is especially relevant as the area in question does see high levels of deforestation that could prove extremely costly in the future.
Hopefully the point of the research covered in this blog has now become a bit clearer.
