Human response to climate change - The Global Climate System: Patterns, Processes, and Teleconnections - page 284

Table 8.5 Some relationships between climate variability and society

Indirect effects
on population Climate influences Direct effects Flow-on consequences

Climate change Agricultural production Food availability and demand Mortality rates

Climate variability Disease Population nutrition Birth rates

Seasonal weather
variability

Environmental damage Abandonment of farms Population

growth

Extreme weather events Flood Starvation

Drought Economic trends

Market development
Trade
Innovation
Work availability
Labor supply
Migration
Income
Education
Technological development
Development of buffers

Based in part on Michaelowa ( 2001 ).

agriculture, or is highly technologically advanced. The level of adaptation, and
the importance of climate variations to the society, depend on the economic and
social structure of the society and how well equipped it is to cope. Table 8.5
provides a summary of how climate change links to society and its activities.
McGovern ( 1991 ) and Brown ( 2001 ) state that it is in marginal living areas,
historically such as Greenland and subsistence Europe, where adaptive strategies
of the people are most critical. Here, the combination of population stresses,
political and economic inflexibility, and adverse weather can create a major
crisis. At this basic level of development, food and water are essential, there are
few buffering opportunities, and one bad season can cause famine, disease, and
major loss of life. Vail ( 1998 ) emphasizes that the deterioration of the environ-
ment can be more important than hostile interactions with other cultures. The
discussions about the Viking settlements in Greenland and the fourteenth cen-
tury in Europe highlighted these problems. Some societies in the seventeenth
century in Europe survived the depths of the LIA better, as they became more
flexible, and the application of new knowledge enhanced adaptability.
Changnon's essay highlights that climates stress an advanced society differ-
ently. It is the economic cost to society, rather than loss of life, that becomes the
critical component. Buffers, such as insurance, food storage, education, and