The global environment is changing rapidly under the impact of human activities, and an important element of this change is related to global c1imate modification. Can the study of c1imate and history help in devising strategies for coping with this change? What might be the type of information most useful in this context? What are the pitfalls awaiting the unwary? These are the kinds of questions that led us to bring together experts from the natural and social sci ences with a strong interest in history, to promote discussion between workers in different disciplines by focussing on a common topic of great interest to society. The meeting was arranged in the framework of a "Hanse Conference" within the interdisciplinary program of the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, a foundation set up to promote interdisciplinary studies in collaboration between the universities ofBremen and Oldenburg. The aim ofthe Hanse Conferences in general is to provide opportunities for experts from different fields of the sciences and humanities to come together and explore the larger framework oftopics of common interest. What unites the partici pants is their desire to look over the fence to neighboring disciplines. Young colleagues who wish to build an interdisciplinary career are particularly welcome. In the Hanse Conference on Climate and History, we have endeavoured to build bridges between the c1imate sciences and the sociological sciences concemed with environmental impacts on human activities. The geological sciences, we feIt, are especially well suited to the purpose because they al ready comprise historical aspects.

InhaltsangabeConcepts and Ideas: Climate History and the Great Geophysical Experiment; Towards a History of Ideas on Anthropogenic Climate Change.- Decadal to Millennial Variability: Climate Dynamics of the North Atlantic and NW-Europe; Holocene Climate Variability on Centennial-to-Millennial Time Scales; Solar Forcing of Climate Change in Recent Millennia; Times of Quiet, Times of Agitation: Sverdrup's Conjecture and the Bermuda Coral Record; A Case for Climate Cycles: Orbit, Sun and Moon; Tracing Climate Variability: The Search for Climate Dynamics on Decadal to Millennial Time Scales.- Holocene Variability: Holocene Climate and Past Volcanism in Greenland and Northern Europe; Holocene Climate Evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Nordic Seas; Holocene Climate History of Northern Europe - the Evidence from Late Deposits; Climate Changes Duringn the Holocene Recorded by Lakes from Europe; The Post-Glacial Evolution of the Baltic Sea; Holocene Climatic History of Northern Europe as Recorded by Vegetation Changes; Late Glacial and Holocene Glacier Fluctuations and Climatic Variations in Southern Norway; Holocene Paleoenvironmental Changes in North-West Europe.- Climate History and Human Activity: Landscape Development and Occupation History along the Southern North Sea Coast; Climatic Change in Northern Europe over the Last 2000 Years and its Possible Influence on Human Activitiy; Human Stature and Climate; Malaria around the North Sea; Patterns of Climate in Central Europe Since Viking Times; On the Holocene Water Balance in Central Europe and Several Historical Consequences; 'Narrowest-Ring' Events in the Irish Oak Chronology.- Coastal Zone and Human Activity: The Pleistocene and Holocene Development of the Southeastern North Sea Basin; Effects of Climate and Human Interventions on the Evolution of the Wadden Sea Depositional System; Historic Storms in the North Sea Area, an Assessment of the Storm Data, the Present Position of Research and the Prospects for Future Research; Climate Variability and Historical NW European Fisheries; Changes in Coastal Zone Ecosystems; The Impact of Harmful Algal Blooms in Natural and Human-Modified Systems of Northern Europe; Climate and Human Induced Impacts on the Coastal Zone of the Southern North Sea.