America #colonisation ‘cooled Earth’s climate’ - BBC News
▻https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47063973
That’s the conclusion of scientists from University College London, UK.
The team says the disruption that followed European settlement led to a huge swathe of abandoned agricultural land being reclaimed by fast-growing trees and other #vegetation.
This pulled down enough carbon dioxide (#CO₂) from the #atmosphere to eventually chill the planet.
It’s a cooling period often referred to in the history books as the “Little Ice Age” - a time when winters in Europe would see the Thames in London regularly freeze over.