COP29
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE It has been a constant companion of our planet – but never has humankind’s impact on the environment posed such dangers By Axel Reiserer, OPEC Fund
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C limate change is as old as the history of the Earth. One of the foundation blocks of world literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia (c. 2100 BCE), is a prime example. Its central character is King Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk. As he seeks immortality, he meets the boatman Utnapishtim, who warns him that the gods are preparing a terrible flood: “Tear down thy house, build a ship; abandon wealth, seek after life; scorn possessions, save thy life. Bring up the seed of all kinds of living things into the ship which thou shalt build.” Written on tablets that date back to around 650 BCE the story has inspired many religions and belief systems:
Rulers who enjoyed divine favor were blessed with predictable rains and golden sunshine that allowed for bumper crops, while those out of favor were punished with violent storms or no rainfall at all. Frankopan speaks of “efforts to make sense of climatological shocks.” Of which there were many, as he notes in his latest book The Earth Transformed , a retelling of human history along climatological and environmental disasters. The examples are numerous. More than 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia – the area today made up of Iraq, northeast Syria and southeast Türkiye – the Akkadian Empire became known as the first empire in history. It reached its peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BCE. It boasted all the trappings of an advanced civilization with a governmental system, urbanization, a diversified economy and records in cuneiform, a logo-syllabic writing system. It was in this writing system that the Epic of Gilgamesh tells one of the most famous natural disaster stories in human history: a great and ancient flood, which can also be found in many world
“The ‘mandate of heaven’ that
gave imperial rulers the authority to rule was in part linked to notions of morality – but was most bluntly manifested by benign climate conditions.”
angering the gods provoked punishments that brought environmental consequences. The historian Peter Frankopan noted: “The ‘mandate of heaven’ that gave imperial rulers the authority and legitimacy to rule was in part linked to notions of morality – but was most bluntly manifested (or otherwise) by benign climate conditions.”
, Historian
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