Feb 27: Shifting baselines


This is a term which has grown in prominence in recent years: "shifting baseline syndrome". It is often used to relate to environmental change, but has also been used relating to the slow changes which mean we don't always notice bigger changes. It is used to refer to our acceptance of ever rising temperatures - often because we are not the ones who are experiencing the largest variations.

Be wary of accepting shifting baselines into your perceptions of what is normal on any given day.

The phrase was coined in a paper by Daniel Pauly.

It has also been used to explain our acceptance of the huge death rate from COVID-19, and daily announcements of the local and national death toll on the evening news.

One way to visualise this is often the image of a pan of water with frogs involved, where the temperature is slowly raised. This is different to plunging them into hot water straight away...

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