A single forge, in the pre coal era of Engaland's metal industry consumed 10 acres of woodland in the form of charcoal per week.
Coal was mostly sea coal gleaned from beaches for a lot of the middle ages in England, but as the 14th century required an immense leap forward in metal fabrication
the woodlands had been stripped already.
Thus, foundry work went from being carbon neutral, particulate positive to both particulate and carbon positive. The steam engine was in fact developed from a crude piston steam pump.
The widespread conversion to coal for domestic heating in the beginning of the eighteenth C. was the start of our modern coal spike.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_AgeYou can see the temp curves for the warm spell and the ice age here, and compare it to the current era.
The mini ice age corresponds to a period of maximum deforestation in Europe.
Climate is the earth's effort to distribute energy from the equator to the poles. It responds to a host of factors from the micro to planetary size.