Climate Change Fosters Culture Change

Only yesterday, the journal Nature Climate Change witnessed the publication of a new study stating that, more often than not, the discussions concerning climate change and global warming fail to mention the cultural shifts fostered by these ongoing phenomena.

In other words, the cultural dimensions of the new global weather patterns fade into the background, seeing how extreme weather manifestations and a potential food crisis take center stage.

According to an international team of specialists led by researchers working with the University of Exeter, there are few people who realize that climate change will ultimately transform the way in which they spend their winter holidays, and even how they build their homes, Eurek! Alert explains.

This in turn translates into considerably less efforts being made to promote sustainability on a global scale.

Professor Katrina Brown, presently working with the University of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute, commented on this status quo as follows:

“The evidence is clear; when people experience the impacts of climate change in places that matter to them, the problems become real and they are motivated to make their futures more sustainable.”

To cut a long story short, climate change and global warming cannot be properly dealt with unless individuals are made to realize that some of the most intimate aspects of their lives are to be affected by them.

“If the cultural dimensions of climate change continue to be ignored, it is likely that responses will fail to be effective because they simply do not connect with what matters to individuals and communities,” argued professor Neil Adger from the University of Exeter.

“It is vital that the cultural impact of climate change is considered alongside plans to adapt our physical spaces to the changing environment,” he went on to say.

Amongst the cultural shifts brought forth by climate change and global warming there are the loss of various plant and animal species, which are iconic to various nations and/or geographical spaces, and the need for several communities of farmers to find other ways of making a living.

Moreover, some speak about a potential blending of traditions as migrations might begin to occur on a regular basis.