Big, Slow, and Fragile

Big weather events get me thinking about how people on the "North American" continent say one thousand years ago dealt with such situations. Why? Well, because for modern post-industrial cities and other high population areas hurricanes and major snowstorms are a hassle and a danger precisely because of the way that contemporary society differs from certain societies of millennia ago. Essentially modern society is massive and slow moving and built on a fragile edifice of high technology and extended energy grids.

I'm guessing that indigenous, sustenance-based or hunting and gathering people didn't need a weatherman to know which way the wind was blowing. They could probably sense a big weather event two or three days out which would give them plenty of time to tear down their encampment and bug out to the safest place around, which centuries of experience has shown to be perfect for waiting out the upcoming hurricane or tornado or blizzard. And waiting it out is key. There were no office parks that needed to be driven to deal with looming deadlines. There were no power lines and blackouts, no online world to crash and wreak havoc.

There's the idea that in the absence of modern civilization and technology people went around suffering all the time. Nonsense. They knew perfectly well how to adapt themselves comfortably to their environments and to not just get by but to enjoy themselves in the process.