4 ms·

Are there examples of societies radically changing their lifestyles in order to prevent a disaster?

seren 7y ago
Not answering directly, but the advantage of us humans is that our culture is pretty malleable. Something that was trendy a few decades ago might become horrifying by today's standard. For example, I would say that colonization was still regarded by some as mostly positively until the 1950s or 1960s, and today would totally look out of place (even if countries keep annexing their neighbors). So it is possible the change will come quickly, not necessarily only because of regulations, but also because of the social norms. See recent articles about "flying shame".
tiborsaas 7y ago
There are examples of change, but most of the times after disaster stuck. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/fire-of-london/ http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/fire-... That's human nature: if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it. And ignore those marginal, annoying naysayers, what do they know? But first let's install AC, nobody can work in these heatwaves :)
Al-Khwarizmi 7y ago
Chinese one-child policy is the closest I can come to an example off the top of my head. A much milder change than the one required against global warming, and it required an authoritarian government, though...
- seren 7y ago
  Although if we somehow could apply a global one child policy, it would halve the population every generation, it would help tremendously with carbon emission (but not so much for our growth or financial system)
  - sgt101 7y ago
    The spread of contraception is making this a reality for a significant part of the world. Government campaigns to provide more contraceptives and get people to use them would be huge boons in the fight against long term AGW.
adamlett 7y ago
We managed to stop using freon, thereby rescuing outselves from ozone depletion. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/5/100505-science-environment-ozone-hole-25-years/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/5/100505-scienc...
- ovi256 7y ago
  That did not require a change in lifestyle. Substitutes were found for all freon applications.

Not answering directly, but the advantage of us humans is that our culture is pretty malleable. Something that was trendy a few decades ago might become horrifying by today's standard. For example, I would say that colonization was still regarded by some as mostly positively until the 1950s or 1960s, and today would totally look out of place (even if countries keep annexing their neighbors). So it is possible the change will come quickly, not necessarily only because of regulations, but also because of the social norms. See recent articles about "flying shame".

tiborsaas 7y ago

There are examples of change, but most of the times after disaster stuck. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/fire-of-london/ http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/fire-... That's human nature: if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it. And ignore those marginal, annoying naysayers, what do they know? But first let's install AC, nobody can work in these heatwaves :)

Al-Khwarizmi 7y ago

Chinese one-child policy is the closest I can come to an example off the top of my head. A much milder change than the one required against global warming, and it required an authoritarian government, though...

seren 7y ago
Although if we somehow could apply a global one child policy, it would halve the population every generation, it would help tremendously with carbon emission (but not so much for our growth or financial system)
- sgt101 7y ago
  The spread of contraception is making this a reality for a significant part of the world. Government campaigns to provide more contraceptives and get people to use them would be huge boons in the fight against long term AGW.

adamlett 7y ago

We managed to stop using freon, thereby rescuing outselves from ozone depletion. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/5/100505-science-environment-ozone-hole-25-years/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/5/100505-scienc...

ovi256 7y ago
That did not require a change in lifestyle. Substitutes were found for all freon applications.