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Haldon J, Eisenberg M, Mordechai L, et al. Lessons from the past, policies for the future: resilience and sustainability in past crises. Environ Syst Decis. 2020;1-11doi: 10.1007/s10669-020-09778-9.
Haldon, J., Eisenberg, M., Mordechai, L., Izdebski, A., & White, S. (2020). Lessons from the past, policies for the future: resilience and sustainability in past crises. Environment systems & decisions, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-020-09778-9
Haldon, John, et al. "Lessons from the past, policies for the future: resilience and sustainability in past crises." Environment systems & decisions vol. (2020): 1-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-020-09778-9
Haldon J, Eisenberg M, Mordechai L, Izdebski A, White S. Lessons from the past, policies for the future: resilience and sustainability in past crises. Environ Syst Decis. 2020 May 24;1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10669-020-09778-9. Epub 2020 May 24. PMID: 32837816; PMCID: PMC7245634.
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Environ Syst Decis. 2020 May 24;1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10669-020-09778-9. Epub 2020 May 24.

Lessons from the past, policies for the future: resilience and sustainability in past crises.

Environment systems & decisions

John Haldon, Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai, Adam Izdebski, Sam White

Affiliations

  1. Princeton University, Princeton, USA.
  2. National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Annapolis, USA.
  3. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
  4. Max-Planck-Inst. for the Science of Human History, PI, Jena, Germany.
  5. Ohio State University, Columbus, USA.

PMID: 32837816 PMCID: PMC7245634 DOI: 10.1007/s10669-020-09778-9

Abstract

This article surveys some examples of the ways past societies have responded to environmental stressors such as famine, war, and pandemic. We show that people in the past did think about system recovery, but only on a sectoral scale. They did perceive challenges and respond appropriately, but within cultural constraints and resource limitations. Risk mitigation was generally limited in scope, localized, and again determined by cultural logic that may not necessarily have been aware of more than symptoms, rather than actual causes. We also show that risk-managing and risk-mitigating arrangements often favored the vested interests of elites rather than the population more widely, an issue policy makers today still face.

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020.

Keywords: Complex historical societies; Environmental stress; Existential risk; Government responses; Inequality; Pandemic; Plague; Resilience; Risk mitigation; System recovery

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

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  4. Trans Stud Coll Physicians Phila. 1981 Jun;3(2):113-24 - PubMed

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