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Tourists visit the Xunantunich Mayan Temple on March 3, 2012 in Benque Viejo del Carmen, Belize.

It has been three weeks since Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. The aftermath of the storm left 209 people dead and its price tag so far is more than $50 billion dollars

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says rising sea levels and warming waters contributed to the strength of the storm. Now a new study on the decline of Mayan civilization reveals that climate change might have had dramatic effects in the past.

And that looking back to the Mayans might serve as a window into our future.

Doug Kennett, an environmental anthropologist at Penn State, authored the study which was published this month in the journal Science.