دانلود کتاب آب و هوای گذشته، حال و آینده

Towards the end of the summer of 2014, I walked alone the “Camino de Santiago” (Way of Saint James) from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, near the Atlantic coast. It is an ancient pilgrimage route that had its heyday during the Medieval Warm Period and decayed with the Black Plague, but has seen a modern revival as a spiritual and cultural European route that is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site. I walked 750 km in a month visiting from the Atapuerca archaeological site, famous for its Homo antecessor and neanderthalensis remains, to the medieval architecture of northern Spain. I had a lot to think after the recent death of my parents in less than two years. What kind of world are we leaving to our children and their children? In the long days at “El Camino” I had plenty of time to deeply think about the passage of time and the changing of the world and its people through prehistory and history. A testimony I could see before my eyes. As a biologist (of the laboratory type) I was familiar with the effects of global warming. Not only I can remember the colder winters of my childhood in the early 1970s, I can also attest to the lengthening of the growing season, the earlier appearance of insects over the years, or the recent decision by some migratory birds to remain in Spain through the winter instead of migrating to Africa.