TPO 27The little ice age was a period of unusually cold temperature in many parts of the world that lasted from about the year 1350 until 1900CE There were unusually harsh winters and glaciers grew larger in many areas Scientist have long wondered what

Both the reading and the listening discuss the Little Ice Age which occurred in many areas of the world. The author believes that there are three possible reasons that caused the Little Ice Age. The lecturer challenges the claims made by the author. He is of the opinion that all the reasons are outdated and can not considered correct.
To begin with, the author argues that gulf stream disruptions, which resulted from the colossal amount of fresh water due to the melted glaciers, caused the cooling of Earth. The lecturer challenges this specific argument by asserting that the Gulf Stream caused cooling only in Europe and North America. Since the Little Ice Aged took place also in the southern hemisphere, the Gulf Stream can not explain why the cooling effect happened in this particular area. Thus, the Gulf streams disruptions can not be the main reason for the Little Ice Age.
Secondly, the writer suggests that the volcanic eruptions, which sent clouds of dust and Sulphur gas in to the atmosphere, blocked the sunlight and cooled the Earth's surface. The lecturer, however, rebuts this claim by explaining that the volcanic eruptions were not strong enough to send dust cloud that could produce visual effects like dramatical sunset and colorful snow. In addition, he mentions that there are no reports of such events to support that the volcanic eruptions are the cause of the Little Ice Age.
Finally, the writer posits that the decline in human population and the forest trees that decrease the Earth's temperature by absorbing the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In contrast, the lecturer cast doubt on this point by pointing out that there was no enough tome for the tree forests to make this cooling effect since the human population grew back to normal fast. Moreover, human started to cut down the trees to get crops to feed the grown population. As a result, the tree forest has no thing to do with the long term global cooling.