Culture and Behavior May Clue Climate Change Response
Photo Source Dan Costin | CC BY 2.0
Behavior acculturated to ancestral norms, originally necessitated by occupation, is the focus of a new study in China with interesting ramifications for climate change. In general, farming requires more stable relationships than, say, herding with the constant movement of animals. Now the authors have taken farming a step further:
They observed that northerners were three times more likely than southerners to push an obstructing chair in a Starbucks out of the way; southerners eased themselves around in order not to inconvenience whosoever had placed the chairs. The behaviors were true to type as northerners are considered brash and aggressive, while southerners are conflict averse and deferential.
The authors ascribe the behavior to ancestral occupation. Wheat is farmed in the north, and such dry-land farming is more individualized than rice farming in the south. The latter requires complex irrigation systems for paddies and forces cooperation and coordination among multiple families. The interdependence also means it is crucial not to offend anyone. This ancestral culture prevailed despite the fact that most descendants were no longer farmers.
The question of which people change their environment and who change themselves is an important one at a time when the world has to face the existential challenge of climate change. In the last couple of years we have seen a cooperative Europe facing a quintessential maverick, as in Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump lives in his own world ignoring the mounting research and irrefragable evidence for climate change with its human fingerprint that can no longer be disputed. Worse still are the consequences and the inevitable danger of conflict fueled by resource needs. Thus the melting of Arctic ice has made possible new sea pathways, opening up oil and gas exploration, and pitting Russia, the U.S., Canada and other Arctic countries against each other.
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