Dear You,
The people are restless. A change in the climate seems to be stirring anger throughout the land. Now diseases previously unknown on a scale not previously experienced by international populations seem to be running amok among people weakened by famine. Everyone seems to be coughing from one disease or another. It’s all doom and gloom. We have to find a cause, and barring that, we have to name a scapegoat. We’re on the verge of a widespread disaster with spring weather unfavorable to the growth of crops. Millions will apparently die from starvation, and crimes and cruelty seem to be proliferating at an alarming rate. There are even stories of cannibalism among those who have little or no food.
After a period of climatic warming we’ve come to call the Warm Period, the weather of this year has turned a bit foul. Gone are the wonderful decades of growth and prosperity we’ve known during the past two centuries. Spring rains continue into the summer, and temperatures are definitely cooler on average than those merry times of growth and prosperity. How did this happen? Why did it happen? Are we being punished? I even heard that King Edward II of England could not find food when he stopped at St. Albans in August. It seems as though all of northern Europe is affected, and the conditions are especially hard on the peasantry.
Is there no relief from these worsening environmental conditions of 1315? Will they last for years? When will warmth and favorable precipitation rates return? We can’t grow wheat this year; the crops rot in the fields. We’ve turned to eating the seeds, and that means we don’t have the seeds to plant for next year.
It’s all doom and gloom. Humans might not last to the end of the fourteenth century. What else could happen to us? A plague?
Hoping that you and yours can survive these conditions,
Me
The people are restless. A change in the climate seems to be stirring anger throughout the land. Now diseases previously unknown on a scale not previously experienced by international populations seem to be running amok among people weakened by famine. Everyone seems to be coughing from one disease or another. It’s all doom and gloom. We have to find a cause, and barring that, we have to name a scapegoat. We’re on the verge of a widespread disaster with spring weather unfavorable to the growth of crops. Millions will apparently die from starvation, and crimes and cruelty seem to be proliferating at an alarming rate. There are even stories of cannibalism among those who have little or no food.
After a period of climatic warming we’ve come to call the Warm Period, the weather of this year has turned a bit foul. Gone are the wonderful decades of growth and prosperity we’ve known during the past two centuries. Spring rains continue into the summer, and temperatures are definitely cooler on average than those merry times of growth and prosperity. How did this happen? Why did it happen? Are we being punished? I even heard that King Edward II of England could not find food when he stopped at St. Albans in August. It seems as though all of northern Europe is affected, and the conditions are especially hard on the peasantry.
Is there no relief from these worsening environmental conditions of 1315? Will they last for years? When will warmth and favorable precipitation rates return? We can’t grow wheat this year; the crops rot in the fields. We’ve turned to eating the seeds, and that means we don’t have the seeds to plant for next year.
It’s all doom and gloom. Humans might not last to the end of the fourteenth century. What else could happen to us? A plague?
Hoping that you and yours can survive these conditions,
Me
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