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Climate Change Is Not New, But Our Ancestors Understood It Better Than We Do
Our ancestors knew how to care for the planet, why don’t we?
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) has recently wrapped up and it should come as no surprise that the promises made there are already withering on the vines. The political resolve, at least here in the UK, to fix this issue remains as strong as a wet napkin. Most rational people have accepted climate change as a reality, but many governments and corporations continue to hold out.
Climate action and environmentalism are not new concepts though, and society once had a more unified outlook on environment management. People in the past could agree on little. A king was as different from a peasant as can be, but both accepted the necessity of protecting their environment.
Environmental Protection in the Past
Humanity’s relationship with nature has always been — in a certain sense at least — adversarial. We burnt wood to stay warm, clearing vast forests in the process. We domesticated animals to our ends, dammed rivers and drew lines on our maps that would have huge environmental as well as geopolitical impacts. It’s our nature to conquer nature.
