If any of these events happened today, it would be blamed on Climate Change.

Climatologist Van Engelen made a list of "scorching summers" since the 14th century, here are some of them:

- Summer 1636: all over France, more than 500,000 people died of infectious diseases (the mud and water were infected).

- Summer 1705: it was 39°C in Paris for several days, even hotter in the south of France... This heatwave killed between 200,000 and 500,000 people.

- Summers 1718 and 1719: a particularly deadly period. 700,000 deaths were recorded, including 450,000 in the summer of 1719. The waters were unfit for consumption due to drought, most of the victims died of dysentery. Crops were poor and prices rose sharply, the state intervened to control grain prices and banned exports. The summer of 1719 was also marked by an invasion of locusts from North Africa to Languedoc which devastated crops. The Seine reached a historic low level: just over 26 meters above sea level.

- Summers 1747 and 1779: 200,000 victims for each of these periods, mostly infants and children.

- Summer 1788: it was not the heat that caused devastation, but the impressive storm on July 13. Wheat crops were destroyed, a period of famine was on the way...

- Summer 1846: the country was still facing the potato blight of 1845, hundreds of thousands of people died, and France experienced poverty and unemployment in the textile and construction sectors.

- Summer 1859: July was the hottest month in history. 100,000 deaths were recorded, including 60,000 children under 5 years old...

If the process of tectonics in not controllable by humans, which is surely is not, then it brings up some questions:

1. If the continents are shifting and those shifts will cause changes to ocean currents and ice sheets and other which change the climate system then how will humans adapt? Surely we ads a species will not get less capable of change.

2. If changes to the climate are inevitable due to tectonics then how long can humans try to keep climate from changing before we realize we cannot control the climate system like it is a thermostat in our home?

3. If we are subject to the climate system we exist within and are unable to ensure that the climate system remains static then why are we arguing about climate change and attempting to arrest it?

I suspect that the answers will be along the lines of: the climate is changing faster than ever before (which is not proven), we are killing the Earth (we cannot kill an inanimate object) which incidentally has survived a lot worse than humans burning hydrocarbons, etc.

Ultimately, we and all of the other life forms live on a planet which is a system that is WAY BEYOND our control. The sooner we realize that the better off we will be as a species. We can either use the resources here to leave or we can die here when the Sun incinerates Earth.