See the link \u201cLiberals Hate Humans<\/a>\u00a0for more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laying waste to land scrubbed 700m tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jon Henley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n @jonhenley<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wed 26 Jan 2011 20.00 GMT<\/p>\n\n\n\n H<\/strong>is empire lasted a century and a half and eventually covered nearly a quarter of the earth\u2019s surface. His murderous Mongol armies were responsible for the massacre of as many as 40 million people. Even today, his name remains a byword for brutality and terror. But boy, was Genghis green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Genghis Khan, in fact, may have been not just the greatest warrior but the greatest eco-warrior of all time, according to a study<\/a> by the Carnegie Institution\u2019s Department of Global Energy. It has concluded that the 13th-century Mongol leader\u2019s bloody advance, laying waste to vast swaths of territory and wiping out entire civilisations en route, may have scrubbed 700m tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere \u2013 roughly the quantity of carbon dioxide generated in a year through global petrol consumption \u2013 by allowing previously populated and cultivated land to return to carbon-absorbing forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An intriguing notion, certainly. But possibly not a guaranteed vote-winner for the Green party\u2019s next manifesto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/uploads\/2017\/10\/06\/Jon_Henley,_L.png?width=75&quality=85&dpr=1&s=none\")
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