Culture, polity, economy decide society's future in changing climate crises, researchers say

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) An interplay of cultural, political, and economic factors decides the course and outcomes of a "changing climate" crisis, and not environmental forces alone, researchers say.

Drawing lessons from history, "not every ecological shock or climatic anomaly leads to collapse" and "not every crisis involves a major environmental stressor", the researchers at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Austria, found.

They came to their conclusions after analysing 150 past crises spanning different time periods and regions, including the Zapotec hilltop settlement of Monte Alban in southern Mexico and the resilience of the Qing Dynasty in China and the Ottoman Empire.