The Hittites are mentioned something like 50 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Historically, the Hittite Empire was active and strong—one of the major military powers around the Mediterranean Sea at the time—for several hundred years during the second millennium BCE (2000-1000 BCE), with the empire falling around 1200 BCE. What caused the Empire to fall?

The Lion Gate marks an entrance to the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusa, in what is now Türkiye. Credit: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0

“Researchers have cited armed conflict, disease, and political crises as contributing to its decline. Evidence hidden in ancient juniper trees points to what may have triggered that domino effect of calamities: a prolonged drought,” a report out today states.

And it may not have been the drought alone. The “extreme centralization of resources and infrastructure, as well as widespread deforestation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry, may have increased the Hittites’ vulnerability even before the drought.”

The US Military calls climate change a “threat multiplier” because it is likely to exacerbate pre-existing threats and because it can/will drive political instability as food and water resources become more scarce in some areas of the globe and as extreme weather events happen with greater frequency and with greater magnitude.

It appears that the collapse of the Hittite Empire is an example of how climate disruption, especially when combined with poor management of the natural resources, can cause a civilization to disappear.

We know that the climate crisis is an existential threat to many species. It is a likely driver of what some scientists are calling the “sixth mass extinction,” with so many species going extinct in a geologically short period of time. I don’t think human beings are threatened with extinction because of the climate crisis, though if we fail to address the crisis the human population will plummet. Rather, it is civilization that is threatened. The Hittites are an example of why this is.

This is why I am engaged in political activism to address the climate crisis. I encourage you to join me. Get involved in an organization that is pressuring out political leaders to act. I’m active with thirdact.org and 350.org. There are many other organizations to join, like the sunrisemovement.org and fridaysforfuture.org (for youth), rebellion.global and greenpeace.org (for activists adults), and climaterealityproject.org and sierraclub.org (for folk looking for a more mainline approach). Get involved!