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We propose the concept of the "Fish Revolution" to demarcate the dramatic increase in North Atlantic fisheries after AD 1500, which led to a 15-fold increase of cod (Gadus morhua) catch volumes and likely a tripling of fish protein to the European market. We consider three key questions: (1) What were the environmental parameters of the Fish Revolution? (2) What were the globalising effects of the Fish Revolution? (3) What were the consequences of the Fish Revolution for fishing communities? While these questions would have been considered unknowable a decade or two ago, methodological developments in marine environmental history and historical ecology have moved information about both supply and demand into the realm of the discernible. Although much research remains to be done, we conclude that this was a major event in the history of resource extraction from the sea, mediated by forces of climate change and globalisation, and is likely to provide a fruitful agenda for future multidisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Felix Riede's claim that knowing about deep pasts will help knowing about deep futures. It highlights the archaeology needs to develop a pro-environmental dialogue through museums and public media and to be aware of the environmental humanities and climate change. Information on Neolithic archaeology reaching into times that are closed to other humanities disciplines is given.

Policy makers have made repeated calls for integration of human and natural sciences in the field of climate change. Serious multidisciplinary attempts began already in the 1950s. Progress has certainly been made in understanding the role of humans in the planetary system. New perspectives have clarified policy advice, and three insights are singled out in the paper: the critique of historicism, the distinction between benign and wicked problems, and the cultural critique of the ‘myths of nature’. Nevertheless, analysis of the IPCC Assessment Reports indicates that integration is skewed towards a particular dimension of human sciences (economics) and major insights from cultural theory and historical analysis have not made it into climate science. A number of relevant disciplines are almost absent in the composition of authorship. Nevertheless, selective assumptions and arguments are made about e.g. historical findings in key documents. In conclusion, we suggest to seek remedies for the lack of historical scholarship in the IPCC reports. More effort at science-policy exchange is needed, and an Integrated Platform to channel humanities and social science expertise for climate change research might be one promising way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the dilemma of global climate change that we have presented ourselves with in the twenty-first century and beyond, many researchers express despair at the ability of humans and societies to change behavior. The paper identifies how global humanity at individual, institutional, and governmental levels have addressed life-threatening dangers in the recent past and begun processes of long-term corrective action. The paper thus discusses global social transformations from the recent past in regards to tobacco use and HIV/AIDS, to think about how Hannah Arendt's concept of the Polis detailed in The Human Condition (1958) may be engaged to address the human dimensions of climate change. As an output of the Andrew W. Mellon European Observatory of the New Human Condition, this paper's focus is commensurate with the thrust of this special issue of Global and Planetary Change which considers climate change to be more of a crisis in the human condition than an environmental problem. Arendt's concept of the Polis provides a framework for a better understanding of change in behavior, preference and motivation. We argue that her perspectives are central to developing multi and inter-disciplinary humanities, social science, science and business perspectives to mobilize collective human action towards adapting to and mitigating the social and environmental threats of global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a discipline, marine historical ecology (MHE) has contributed significantly to our understanding of the past state of the marine environment when levels of human impact were often very different from those today. What is less widely known is that insights from MHE have made head way into being applied within the context of present-day and long-term management and policy. This study draws attention to the applied value of MHE.We demonstrate that a broad knowledge base exists with potential for management application and advice, including the development of baselines and reference levels. Using a number of case studies from around the world,we showcase the value of historical ecology in understanding change and emphasize how it either has already informed management or has the potential to do so soon. We discuss these case studies in a context of the science-policy interface around six themes that are frequently targeted by current marine and maritime policies: climate change, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem structure, habitat integrity, food security, and human governance. We encourage science-policy bodies to actively engage with contributions from MHE, as well-informed policy decisions need to be framed within the context of historical reference points and past resource or ecosystem changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's comment on the program entitled "Consequences of Weather and Climate Changes for Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems." The program explores the past and future aquatic ecosystems on earth in relation to climate change. It even predicts weather forecast for Denmark in 2081.

The article reports that the European Environment Agency (EEA) has commissioned a project to identify a list of conservation projects producing most value for money. The list is to inform future European Union investments in the environment. The author of the best-selling book "The Sceptical Environmentalist," Bjørn Lomborg, is to lead the project. Lomborg believes that the long-term perspective of 50-100 years of climate change studies is irrelevant to the present and next generation, and that we should therefore spend all money on concerns that may be solved in a 10-20 year perspectives and quotes clean water and fighting AIDS as his top priorities. The author in this article in concerned that the EEA embarks on a project that restricts its own priorities to only those that will have marked effect in a 10-20 year perspective. The European Environmental Agency has promised that Lomborg's voice shall not be the only one.