An Introduction

This clip from ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ got me wondering whether our society would be unprepared for changes in our future climate. The film depicts an abrupt overhaul of earth’s climate within a few days. The ‘hollywoodisation’ of our climate system remains in the realm of science fiction. 

However, it does beg the question of what would happen to our society if we experience these changes to our climate? Are we sufficiently prepared - or even have we been preparing - for the chaos to come? The philosophers George Santayana and G. W. F. Hegel wrote;

                      "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it"¹                                                              - G. Santayana  

“What experience and history teach is this — that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it” ²            

                                - G.W.F. Hegel 

The above quotations reinforced the need to ‘learn from history’. This blog will refer to examples from history and look at how societal disorder have risen. But more importantly, it will look for areas of vulnerability that could lead to future societal disorder. These are important as this blog will later shows that often climate changes creates indirect influences which amplifies the negative affect of climate change on society. Also, it give insights into whether there are similarities between past and present events in order to highlight areas where we could learn from the past.