User blog comment:BlackSkyEmpire/ATL: The Black Death and Enviormentlism/@comment-257949-20101230210634

Hmm. Plausible, but large amounts of fertile ground appear protected. I would expect a significantly reduced world population.

But I'm interested as to how 'environmentalism' would arise in a world where the threat to ecosystems is utterly negligible. I would imagine some form of religion could do the trick though - maybe the birth of a prophet whose religious teachings are very open and acceptable, whose teachings spread over the course of his lifetime around the world? He might teach a faith emphasising a commitment to nature amongst other aspects, but as his disciples spread across the world his teachings would be warped and altered by word of mouth until they mostly emphasise the environmental aspect.

How this would be received in Europe would be mixed, especially in the aftermath of the Plague, which could only be described by 14th century Europeans as divine wrath. Some might leap at the chance of adopting a more protective god(dess?) who would avoid causing such a plague again, but some would be afraid of inciting even more wrath and retribution from God. After all, if God is all-powerful, surely he could interfere with the lives of those of other faiths? He did it in the Bible, and could easily do it again. (Note that that would be the point of view of the European clergy and I've no intent to start a religious debate here over my views.)