As part of the Institute for Historical Studies' "Climate in Context" events, Planet Texas 2050 has teamed up with the digital magazine "Not Even Past" to produce a series of articles outlining why history and archaeology are important to our understanding and mitigation of the effects of climate change. This article by Classics Associate Professor Adam Rabinowitz details his work exploring the ancient past to help plan for the future.

Through all eras of human history, communities have confronted stresses related to climate change that have affected how and where they live. Studying past societies helps us recognize the long-term effects of these stresses and understand how humans will continue to respond to them in the present and near future.

For all of our history, mobility has helped to ensure our species’ success. But as more and more of the world’s population lives in cities, as more and more of our infrastructure and wealth is invested in those cities, and as our national borders harden in response to population movements driven by the ancient impulse to flee from danger, this option is increasingly off the table.