The Tambora eruption changed the game. When i say this, i mean it switched up a lot of things in the society. That single eruption had immense social, economic and climatic impacts that are felt up to date. Gilen Wood journey into unfolding and telling the story is a bold step. Going through a rough terrain road trip to the foot of the mountain itself just to get first hand information takes more than just passion.
Gilen Wood wanted to produce a volume of work that nobody else had ever thought of doing. I am currently reading the book, and it was a privilege to have in come in and talk about the stages of climate shock response. Touching on how the situation in Switzerland was i could not help but feel pity.
Socially, the society was turned upside down. You had to do whatever to survive the harsh times. He spoke about about the royalty who opened a door, only to find a line of thousands of refugees stretching miles into the closest town. She could not ignore the matters at hand. Besides it had literally knocked on her door. The society became wicked! Selling and buying of children was allowed as a last resort to the economic crisis. Mothers were being killed for starving their children. Riots became rampant, he confirmed that 10,000 protested in Manchester City.
The arable lands in Europe could no longer sustain crops growing. Grain became scarce and the little that was available was expensive. Bakeries across the region were burnt down due to the high prices of bread. The animal death toll was greater than human as people killed their animals for survival. The situation was bad. Gilen Wood says the year without sunshine. I think it must have been years. Tambora released its ashes into the stratosphere, giving the ash capability to reach far and wide across Europe uninterrupted. Hard times, harsh impacts.
Not all effects were negative though. The areas accessing Mt.Tambora finally got good infrastructure in their area. As a result of the massive deaths and starvations brought about by the eruption. There was a need for inventions to ensure stable living conditions. This period saw the invention of the bike to replace the animal death toll especially the horse. There was also publication of the first weather map.