16—18世纪欧洲社会与气候

European Society and Climate in the 16th-18th Centuries

16—18世纪,面对洪水、干旱等气候灾害,欧洲社会认为这是天上的神对有罪的生灵发泄愤怒,通常举行巡游以表达对上帝的顺从。巡游在16世纪20年代增多,1610年以后逐渐减少,路易十四时期稍有回升,随后又渐趋消失。17世纪下半期起,一些独立思考的人对当时应对气候灾害的举措产生怀疑,认为气候反常更多是自然原因造成,而不是出自上帝的审判。18世纪后期,法国王家医学协会建立,凭借信奉新希波克拉底主义的医生搭建了第一个国家层面的气候网络,进行大规模的调查,促成了从以神为中心的世界转向由理性和科学指引的世界。随着行政机器的增强,欧洲一些国家发展了有效的科学手段,逐渐承担起了应对气候危机的责任,也促成了风险意识的诞生。

Faced with climate disasters such as floods and droughts in the 16th to 18th centuries,European society believed that it was the God who vented his anger on the sinful creatures.Thus religious processions were usually held to show people’s obedience to God.The processions increased in the 1520s,gradually decreased after 1610,rose slightly again during the reign of Louis XIV,and then faded away.From the latter half of the 17th century,some independent thinkers began to doubt about the measures of struggling with the climate disasters,believing that the climatic anomalies were due to more natural causes than God’s judgment.In the latter half of the 18th century,the French Royal Medical Society was established,and with the help of Neo-Hippocratic doctors,the first national climate network was built to conduct a large-scale study,making it possible to shift from a divine world to a world guided by rationality and science.With the strengthening of the administrative machinery,some European countries developed effective scientific methods,gradually taking responsibility for climate change and helping to raise public awareness of climate risks.