Does climate dictate the way people inhabit ?

Question

Does climate dictate the way people inhabit ?

Answer 1

There is a great environmental science textbook by Wagner that covers housing in various climates. Temperature plays a large role. Examples are the low ceilings in New England houses contrasted with the high ceilings in the American South and the thick stone walls of the houses in the Middle Eastern desert regions. Proper construction pays for itself in reduced energy bills.

Answer 2

Yes, people all over the world live in houses that are a direct result of the land and it's climate.  In warm climates, many traditional houses have no doors or windows.  In cold climates, they would have igloos or animal skin tents with a hole in the top for a fire to warm the inside without getting too smoky.

Many people don't live in the arctic or antarctic because of the harsh environment as well as in the desert or high mountain tops.

Answer 3

Absolutely.  It's going to radically challenge our food production:

http://www.climatechangenews.org/nFood.h...

The World's Growing Food-Price Crisis - TIME

"Soaring prices of staples — which have risen about 75% since 2005, driven by growing demand, rising oil prices and the effects of global warming — have sparked riots in several countries, as people reel from sticker shock and governments scramble to feed their people."

Fresh records for price of wheat- BBC News

"Wheat prices have hit record levels as supplies dwindle, raising concerns about growing food inflation. Reports of a drought in Northern China, where most of the country's wheat is grown, also pushed prices higher. Extreme weather has already damaged crops in other parts of the world and US wheat inventories are expected to fall to their lowest level for 60 years."

Even if global warming weren't happening, we're going to be seriously challenged as cheap oil becomes a thing of the past:

Ten Ways to Prepare for a Post-Oil Society

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Fr...

We'll need to grow food closer to home to keep prices down, possibly use less heavy machinery to produce it, but with the climate being a moving target (and changing at an accelerating rate) it will be difficult to figure out what grows where.

The U.S. has been thorugh this type of change on a much smaller scale and with a lot less total change than we'll produce this time around:

The Potential Effects of Global Climate Change on the United States

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects...

"The effects of a warmer climate alone would generally reduce wheat and corn yields. Yield changes range from + 15 to -90%."

"Dryland farmers in the Great Plains are particularly vulnerable to climate variability. The Great Plains States of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas were the hardest hit during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s (Worster, 1979; Hurt, 1981). Yields of wheat and corn dropped as much as 50% below normal, causing the failure of about 200,000 farms and migration of more than 300,000 people from the region."