Historian Geoffrey Parker has a new book out that examines the impact of the Little Ice Age on social, economic and political structures around the globe.
Amazon Abstract:
Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides – the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were not only unprecedented, they were agonisingly widespread. A global crisis extended from England to Japan, and from the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa. North and South America, too, suffered turbulence. The distinguished historian Geoffrey Parker examines first-hand accounts of men and women throughout the world describing what they saw and suffered during a sequence of political, economic and social crises that stretched from 1618 to the 1680s. Parker also deploys scientific evidence concerning climate conditions of the period, and his use of ‘natural’ as well as ‘human’ archives transforms our understanding of the World Crisis. Changes in the prevailing weather patterns during the 1640s and 1650s – longer and harsher winters, and cooler and wetter summers – disrupted growing seasons, causing dearth, malnutrition, and disease, along with more deaths and fewer births. Some contemporaries estimated that one-third of the world died, and much of the surviving historical evidence supports their pessimism.
I do not think that our current global leaders are preparing to deal with extended cooling and reduced agriculture production, they are focused on reducing AGW warming, spending billions to control a natural cycle, when the could be preparing for the Next Grand Minimum. Your thoughts?
The Next Grand Minimum 
The difference is that now we humans are much better organised and can avoid mass starvation. The Chinese are particularly mindful of food security and are actively diversifying in Africa, South America and Australia.
Of course with all the extra CO2 being pumped into the system…. we can all breath a little easier.
Government is always fighting the last war or crisis and is almost always blindsided by any new threat. I think once the oceans cool and the CO2 levels drop once the colder seas start sucking it up like a giant sponge people will realize they have been had yet again.
Great post Russ and very good comment above, David. Parker sounds like a must-read! Thanks for the info. How can any intelligent human ignore history!
David,
Agree. It is going to take a while to get people to recognize the obvious.