does the gradual shift of nature's cycles lull us into the false hope that cataclysmic events will not occur?

Question

especially this time of year in the united states, winter gives in grudgingly.  spring approaches, recedes, disappears, and gradually comes again.  in fits and starts, it will warm.

also, species migrate slowly.  trees become acclimated to new environments over generations and glacially take root (no pun intended) in places miles north or south of their previous population centers.  birds winter where they historically haven't, lakes and oceans ice-out earlier, or fail to ice at all.  glaciers reposition themselves.  but again, unless you've been keeping a journal over decades or centuries, you wouldn't notice these changes at all.

we've accepted that nature moves slowly, perhaps cyclically in some cases.  has our acclimation to this idea made it impossible for us to conceive of a catastrophic event, a sudden climatic change, or mass extinction?   has it also put the idea of a gradual climate change on the proverbial back burner, due to the lack of immediacy?

how lulled are we?  what would be a springboard to action?

bravozulu · Accepted Answer

Just the opposite.  Every generation has their own doomsday mentality.  it almost seems that it part of some peoples nature.  They were always wrong in the past and there is no reason to think the current doomsday cult is right.

Who Dat ? · Answer

that's an accurate assessment. just look at the growth of Naples Italy at the base of mt Vesuvius for example or look at how rapidly Bangladesh repopulates after floods or the sea washes away a few hundred thousand people every decade or so.
if a disaster regularly strikes an area only once or twice in a human lifetime its totally ignored.

cardimom · Answer

Of course, especially when the context is a short human life span and very long cycles of everything in nature and the universe

Stormwolf ™ · Answer

our whole climate system would collapse in a matter of weeks if the north Atlantic current is terminated.
and it might stop as a result of global warming

does the gradual shift of nature's cycles lull us into the false hope that cataclysmic events will not occur?

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