http://www.chuckscooldesign.com Recent blog posts from my shop. en-US Fri, 12 Dec 2025 08:01:30 -0500 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1441268217648/how-two-cities-fought-a-war-over-a https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1441268217648/how-two-cities-fought-a-war-over-a?pub=1765544490 Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:32:49 -0500 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1438237677032/the-battle-of-karansebes-when-an https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1438237677032/the-battle-of-karansebes-when-an?pub=1764930769 Sat, 29 Nov 2025 04:25:08 -0500 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1435478447857/how-most-samurai-were-actually-poor https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1435478447857/how-most-samurai-were-actually-poor?pub=1764408308 Wed, 26 Nov 2025 09:13:57 -0500 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1434004232685/how-the-first-thanksgiving-became https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1434004232685/how-the-first-thanksgiving-became?pub=1764166437 Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:15:20 -0500 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1431465945002/how-did-australia-lose-a-war-to-birds https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1431465945002/how-did-australia-lose-a-war-to-birds?pub=1763788520 Sat, 15 Nov 2025 04:07:11 -0500 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1428545096210/how-hannibal-crossed-the-alps-with https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1428545096210/how-hannibal-crossed-the-alps-with?pub=1763197631 Thu, 30 Oct 2025 09:55:02 -0400 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1423270398701/vikings-when-toxic-masculinity-had https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1423270398701/vikings-when-toxic-masculinity-had?pub=1761832502 Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:01:28 -0400 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1422870270265/the-plague-doctors-last-night-a-medieval https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1422870270265/the-plague-doctors-last-night-a-medieval?pub=1761660088 Sat, 25 Oct 2025 04:19:59 -0400 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1421430021113/how-medieval-people-invented-horror https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1421430021113/how-medieval-people-invented-horror?pub=1761380399 Scientists estimate that about 700 million acres—roughly the size of Argentina—returned to forest and grassland during and after the Mongol conquests. That's not a small garden project. That's an area larger than the entire Amazon rainforest reforestation efforts of the past 50 years combined.
When forests regrow, they pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in trees, soil, and vegetation. The reforestation following Mongol conquests removed approximately 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere over the course of a century or so.
To put that in modern terms: that's equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of about 100 coal-fired power plants running for a decade. Or every car on Earth stopping operation for a full year. Or roughly the amount of carbon that modern climate change initiatives are desperately trying to capture and store using billions of dollars in technology.
Genghis Khan achieved it through the considerably less expensive (though morally horrifying) method of conquest and demographic collapse.
Ice core data from Antarctica and Greenland show measurable dips in atmospheric CO2 levels during this period. Tree ring data confirms the timing. Medieval climate records describe a cooling period that correlates with the Mongol conquests. Scientists can literally see the environmental impact of the Mongol Empire in geological records. Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:11:34 -0400 https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1421148007137/how-genghis-khan-accidentally-invented https://www.chuckscooldesign.com/post/1421148007137/how-genghis-khan-accidentally-invented?pub=1761311494