Is it unnatural to live in places with cold winters?

Question

What is natural about living in a place that has a snowy, icy, cold winter (or summer, if you live in the southern hemisphere)? Everyone is too cold and living in hiding, farmable vegetation becomes almost nonexistant. It's nearly unlivable. How is anything but a warm climate natural? Serious question.

Answer 1

Once again, most missed the point.
nat·u·ral /ˈnætʃərəl, ˈnætʃrəl/ –adjective 1. existing in or formed by nature (opposed to artificial): a natural bridge

There are many more definitions but this is the primary. In other words, nothing that human beings do is natural by definition unless they live absolutely like an animal, in which case they would most definitely die in a cold climate. Inuits do not live naturaly, they alter their environment and use tools. Whether one uses electric heaters or an igloo it is still unnatural.

Answer 2

that's a very interesting question, and questioning such a basic norm smacks of a scientifically open mind! I was wondering the same thing myself, For that matter is it natural to live in a desert? Some people do. Is it natural to live in a place where you 'know' that about every five years tsunamis or floods will wash away your city? I believe the answer may be that what is natural is survival. Living in an excessively cold or hot place isn't unnatural because people are adapted to survive despite those conditions. Historical records tell us that where people couldn't adapt to survive they died off and other people learned thereby that people can't naturally survive there. Humanity is resilient and adaptable. Also, many don't have the resources to migrate even if they don't like where they live. When conditions become unliveable for even native dwellers then people are usually smart enough to migrate. What you may wish to ask, is why any group of people might settle in a place with a climate that is inhospitable, and there are many answers to that, immigration is continuous even today, and when something (civil war, poverty, criminal background, disease etc) has forced you out of where you previously lived, you are usually quite desperate to settle somewhere else.

Answer 3

A lot of varied climates are naturally habitable or we wouldn't have Inuit and Bedouin. What isn't necessarily "natural" is the way we've edited the environment and sought ways to enable lifestyles that don't mix well with the locality. Air conditioning, heating, hydroelectric power, water pipelines, long-distance trucking, etc. all change the way we can live in those environments while actually dependent on other environments like oil from the Middle East or the snow melt from mountains hundreds of miles further away than a natural stream runs. That doesn't mean it is wrong to live in these ways. I'm just saying that it is a way of living in a place without actually adapting to it.

Answer 4

Well, I doooo hate Michigan, but with a warmer climate comes other problems, too numerous to list. I like a break from people anyway. And snow is so special, during Christmas. And driving in snow is so fun (when it's not life-threatening) LOL. Michigan rarely has tornadoes, we don't have hurricanes or tropical storms, we aren't in danger of tsunamis, etc. Now Alaska, or northern Canada, that is just plain inexplicable. There is no break from the cold. But cold weather is livable, it's great for cuddling close with loved ones, gives an opportunity for different fashion, and tropical diseases are almost non-existant. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

If you are talking about humans, In some ways I agree with you. However, there are those who like the cold climate and would not think of living anywhere else. I live in the northern mountains of Calif. Here it snows during the winter and for the most part the average winter temp is between 15-42 degrees. If there is no wind blowing I can go outside at 5 degrees with a "T" shirt on and be warm. There are different types of cold. Wet cold and dry cold. Wet cold if very chilly and one has to bundle up to keep warm. Dry cold is not chilly and like I said I can feel warm at 5 degrees. It is a matter of preference as far as humans are concerned.

Answer 6

Although humans are not adapted physically to living in cold climates, other animals have certainly evolved features to thrive in them. Through human culture and mental superiority, we have the unique quality of being able to live in otherwise hostile evironments. Yes, you could say that it is unnatural for us to live in these conditions--however, remember that clothing, the use of fire, and the building of shelters is also "unnatural"--and it is part of what makes us human. And what could be more natural than using our unique talents to survive, no matter where we may find ourselves?

By the way, people in the southern hemisphere call their colder season "winter" just like we do, it just happens during our "summer," and vice versa.

Answer 7

I personally miss the North. I live in Florida and ask myself the opposite question "Why do people like living in a place where you sweat half the time if you go outside?"
When it gets so hot you can't breathe when you get into your car?? Ugh
I miss season to. Here we have, Green and Hurricane and that's about it.

That being said I could handle something like New York. Or even back home in Vermont. If you get into places where things need natural wetsuits just to get into the water? That might be a bit too cold.

Answer 8

Is going through an ice age is unnatural ? The Inuit just stayed there because there were whales to harpoon.
I think the Inuit love it and prefer it to miami because it's all they have ever known. Most people that move away wax sentimental about the perceptual region "back home."
I would ask the same thing about inhabiting a place that teeters on the edge of a tectonic plate.

Answer 9

Good Question. I too have wondered why man would choose to inhabit places like the Canadian High Arctic. It could not be a willing choice. It had to be the result of population pressure. It was the only place left. Hostile others forced them. And the rest is history.

Answer 10

Wyo. is a great place to live. You do have all four seasons and you can learn a lot from watching the animals in the winter hunting and fishing is great too. The girls also do like to get close and stay warm, need I say more?