British poet and politician, Lord Byron died at the age of 36 from Malaria. He lived through the summer that never was in 1816. The imaginativeness of his poem, Darkness, allows us to peek into the mood of that dreadful time, when men forgot their passions and all hearts came together in prayer; where looking into each other’s face was of utmost importance. It was only in the twentieth century that scientists made the connection between volcanic eruption and climate change.
Mount
Tambora erupted in a powerful blast in 1815 and thousands were killed. Scientists
estimate the column would have shot up over 43 kilometres into the
stratosphere. The
eruption occurred in what is now Indonesia.
By 1816, the huge and dense
dust cloud that formed after the eruption blocked the sun, cooled the earth and
moved across most of earth. Weather was affected for three years in the
northern hemisphere, but mainly in 1816, which is called the ‘Year Without Summer’. Conditions experienced were snow, sleet and
frost in the summer. People probably went
through what we know today as SAD, seasonal affective disorder. Photography had
not been yet invented, so information about the event was transmitted in several
other ways, like the poem mentioned. There is a legend that the Old Farmer’s
Almanac which was published continually in North America, since 1792 was
recalled because winter was predicted for the summer of 1816 and new almanacs
were printed instead. No one has seen
one of those recalled copies yet and collectors are still on the lookout for one.
Mass migration, civil unrest,
floods; worldwide poverty, famine, disease and crop failures followed the
eruption around the world. The North American economy, reliant on farming,
crashed in 1816. It was reported lambs died and frozen birds dropped dead in
the streets of Montreal. Lakes and rivers were covered in ice. The New England
Historical Society noted people ate raccoons and pigeons. The widespread
cholera killed more than had been killed in the eruption. In
Europe food riots, beggars, typhus, arson and looting made news. Ireland
suffered a potato famine. China would take to growing poppies for profit.
Cholera (a new strain, it is said) spread from India to Moscow and almost wiped
out the British army in Bengal. It killed more than had been killed in the
eruption. Napoleon saw his defeat at Waterloo in 1816. 
Prometheus in Greek mythology is the
giver of fire. The fire that rained on the planet in 1815 seemed to have
sparked an abundance of creativity: Percy Shelley, Goethe, Beethoven and
Schubert came from this period and moods are reflected in their works. Artists,
painters and poets had a lot to reverberate with: climate change, destruction
of all kinds, the environment, and the darkness. The inspiration
from this period also went into the creating of Frankenstein (the Modern Prometheus)
by Mary Shelley in 1818. In this
gloomy people thought the world was ending and that prompted religious revivals.
The stethoscope was invented in 1819, a new way of examining the human body.
And here we are, almost 200 years later. The world is in seeming chaos: pandemics, lockdowns, climate change, pollution, and pesticides, pending financial gloom, wars between countries, religious strife, hunger, poverty and riots, to name some things. How are we managing with no haircut? Some of us can’t make the rent and put food on the table. We can’t connect; the bars and pubs are closed. Are we in a new paradigm shift and where would it lead us? The world is more connected than before and information/misinformation is rampant. The connectedness of today wasn’t the case in 1816. What is certain is that humans survived and their progeny (us) is here today. In 200 years into the future what would the artificial intelligence (probably implanted in the brain) of future generations have to say of this period? What new creativity are we now breeding in music, philosophy, architecture, the arts, literature and some art form yet to be created? What would the bounty of natural world look like? Would we be eating lab meat? Would we have a colony on Mars? Quantum physics and the neurosciences have taught us much. This may just be a time for all humans to forget their negative passions, have their hearts come together, put down their devices, look into each others’ face and eyes, create a better new world, and maybe discover the infinite within ourselves.
