This new study is fascinating; it suggests that ancient Mayans may have “inadvertently caused their own demise by radically altering the climate.”
The Mayans had “regular ‘burn events which may have caused a rise in carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.”
In comparison, the small changes back then were small compared to much greater recent changes. Air pollution, I have learned first hand by way of working with graduate students at USC studying the health effects of toxic air on mice, causes disease and increases risks of autism and loss of strength. It also causes millions of deaths annually, I learned from an online college course through the University of Copenhagen.
It is sobering to think that an entire civilization may have been wiped out from even smaller climate changes than we have recently experienced. We all need to wake up to scientific reality and learn from the past so we have a better future.
Source: “Ancient Mayans Caused Their Own ‘Climate Change,’ Shocking Study Says.” Fox News, 2019, https://www.foxnews.com/science/ancient-mayans-caused-own-climate-change.
Environmental Science and Its Application to Health 