ABSTRACT
It has long been appreciated that, in relation to the ranges of temperature life forms tolerate, the climate of our planet has been remarkably ‘uniform’ the last billion years.1 Viewed more closely, it is constantly inconstant. A burgeoning awareness of what this connotes could give ‘historical climatology’ wider currency. Customarily, it has covered the history of climate change, especially as revealed archivally in the pre-instrumental era.2 In the future, it may routinely embrace the interaction with human history. Before the big expansion of coal production began 250 years ago, the balance was heavily towards climate cause and human consequence.
