PRESS RELEASE

Leeds, UK, 07 August 2008

 
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie stimulates climate change debate

The growing intensity of the debate on climate change, and on the appropriate response from governments and individuals, means there is an ever greater need to engage specialists from as many fields as possible in the debate on environmental policy.

Eminent historian Professor Le Roy Ladurie is a noted pioneer in the field of 'history from below' and microhistory, and is also known as one of the first modern environmental historians. His contribution to a special issue of the journal Interdisciplinary Science Reviews on climate change lends weight to the argument for an interdisciplinary approach to environmental policy.

The special issue 'Climate change: interdisciplinary approaches' (volume 33 issue 1) brings together contributions from specialists from the historical sciences, economics, climatology, earth sciences and ecology, some also being members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose conclusions and recommendations feed into international debate and activity around environmental policy.

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and Valerie Daux's article The climate in Burgundy and elsewhere, from the fourteenth to the twentieth century demonstrates the impact of past climate variations on human activities, historical events and human societies as a warning for our future. The article reviews the climatic history of northern France by correlating the grape-picking dates of the Burgundian vineyards with recorded temperatures. The article considers the variability in agriculture according to such climatic phenomena as the 'Little Ice Age' of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, cool summers or drought, the effect of late harvesting of grapes, war and periods of social change. For example, the French Revolution was preceded by a food crisis due to bad weather.

The special issue originates from a series of events organised in 2006 and 2007 within the framework of the 'Entre-Sciences' programme of Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, culminating in a conference of the same name held at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris in March 2007. The varied contributions demonstrate a truly interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling climate change through a unique 'all-embracing' approach.

Contents include:

l The climate in Burgundy and elsewhere, from the fourteenth to the twentieth century, 

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and Valerie Daux

l From atmosphere, to climate, to Earth system science, Didier Paillard

l Climate change: scenarios and integrated modeling, Michel Armatte

l Climate modelling for policy-making: how to represent freedom of choice and concern for future generations? Olivier Godard

l Climate expertise: between scientific credibility and geopolitical imperatives, 

Amy Dahan-Dalmedico

l Towards a global climate observing system, Jean-Louis Fellous

l Enhancing citizen contributions to biodiversity science and public policy, D Couvet, F Jiguet, 

R Julliard, H Levrel, and A Teyssedre

The issue is guest edited by Angela Procoli and François Rochet, head and scientific director of the 'Entre-Sciences' programme at Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, respectively. 

The guest editorial is available to download free online at www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/isr/2008/00000033/00000001 where abstracts and table of contents can also be viewed.

NOTES TO EDITORS

To receive a PDF for review or media purposes please contact a.holgate@maney.co.uk

Professor Le Roy Ladurie has been a professor at the Sorbonne and subsequently at the Collège de France, where from 1973 to 1999 he held the chair in History of Modern Civilisation. He has also taught at Princeton, Cornell, Stanford and Michigan in the US and is a past General Administrator of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Dr. Ladurie is the author of many historical works, including Les Paysans de Languedoc (1966), Histoire du Climat depuis l'An Mil (second ed., 1983), Montaillou, village occitan (1975), Le Territoire, de l'Historien (2 vols., 1973, 1978), Le Carnaval de Romans, 1579-1580 (1980), L'Etat royal (1987), L'Ancien Regime (1991), Le Siècle de Platter (1995), and Saint-Simon, le systeme de la Cour (1997).

About Interdisciplinary Science Reviews Interdisciplinary Science Reviews is a quarterly journal that aims to set contemporary and historical developments in the sciences and technology into their wider social and cultural context and to illuminate their interrelations with the humanities and arts. ISR provides an open and inclusive forum for contributors from across the physical, biological, social and historical sciences, from the arts and from humanities. Approaches that transcend disciplinary boundaries or that fall outside traditional intellectual categories are particularly encouraged.  For more information please visit www.maney.co.uk/journals/isr    Recent themed issues of the journal have covered: l Perspectives on water, environment and society l Working at the interface: physics meets biology l The sound of science l Constructing scientific community l Putting science in its place l Science and poetry l Digital scholarship, digital culture

About Maney Publishing

Maney Publishing was founded in 1900 and has offices in the UK in Leeds and London, and in Boston and Philadelphia in North America. With a collection of more than 80 journals in materials science, humanities, and healthcare, Maney is committed to publishing high quality journals in print and electronic formats that are international in scope and peer-reviewed. Maney publishes extensively for learned societies, universities and professional bodies. Please visit www.maney.co.uk for more information.

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