Can History Help Us Navigate Climate Change? Practical Lessons from the Past

Abstract

This paper will reflect on the report "Societal Responses to Significant Change: An Historical Analysis" an early deliverable in the Australian Government funded South East Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative (SEQCARI). Societal Responses to Significant Change looked at 33 case studies developed by 12 researchers that illustrate the range of contextual responses to change in order to better understand the historical precedents for human adaptive capacity. The paper argues that social learning, and therefore adaptive capacity, does not occur in a vacuum. The historical profiling of responses to significant change illustrates how a range of factors contribute to a society's success or failure. These profiles take the form of scenarios that ground reflection on the future in how human societies and institutions have responded to challenges in the past. Ultimately it is argued that historical consciousness deepens human adaptive capacity and facilitates practical engagement with climate change.