why we disagree about climate change - book review
TRANSCRIPT
Michael Hulme
http://www.mikehulme.org/
A good place to look for wisdom… is
where you least expect to find it: in
the minds of your opponents.
Jonathan Haidt, 2006
Main Point
It’s not just how to
communicate.
It’s about what to
communicate and how
those arenas intersect.
Religion
Economics
Politics
International
Relations
Science and
Technology
Engineering
Sociology
Psychology
Community Health
Risk Management
Etc….
The Social Meanings of Climate
“Ideas about climate are always situated in a time
and a place.”
Meteorological vs. Metaphorical
Local knowledge vs. climate scientists
Climate change used in different ideologies:
- Racism
- Control of the environment
- Instability
- Wild
The Discovery of Climate Change
“…the idea that the Earth’s climate was susceptible to such
large changes…was not an easy one for mid-nineteenth
century Europe to accept…”
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier and John Tyndall
Guy Stewart Callendar
Syukuro Manabe
Wallace Broecker
The Performance of Science
“We disagree about science because we have
different understandings of the relationship of
scientific evidence to other things.”
What kinds of questions are scientists asked to
answer?
Limits to the science
- It will always be incomplete
- Requires trust and participation
- Acknowledging what science can and can’t tell us.
The Endowment of Value
“Individuals and societies ascribe value to
activities, assets, constructs and resources in
many different ways.”
Different economic perspectives and analyses
Geopolitical disagreement – Kyoto, carbon taxes
Stern Review and IPCC
‘Business as usual’ – why?
The Things We Believe
“Our beliefs about human dignity and accountability, about the
value of the non-human world and about humanity’s ultimate
purpose and destiny will often shape the way we frame our
understanding of climate change.”
Several religions have made official statements on climate
change.
Different faith-oriented frames with which to consider climate
change:
- Sin
- Justice for Creation
- Social Justice
- Personal transformation
The Things We Fear
“No two people necessarily have the same perception
of a given risk and certainly do not necessarily
evaluate its significance for individual or collective
behavior the same way.”
Why is risk perception different?
- People will reflect their worldview onto the information.
- Social amplification
- Framing
- Media coverage
- Basically, this entire class.
The Communication of Risk“…how scientific risks associated with climate change are
communicated: the different ways an issue is framed, the different
audiences targeted, the different language, stories and visual imagery
adopted.”
- Scientists
- Media
- Public
- Corporate interests
- Images
- Language
- Advertising
- Ideological baggage
Who is involved?
What do they use?
The Challenges of Development
“Our belief in the idea of ‘progress’ and our views of development are powerful shapers of our attitudes towards climate change.”
Sustainable development – How do we get there?
What does that even mean?
Considerations:
Poverty – Global North and Global South
International legal system – global trade barriers
Population
- Carbon neutral development
- Trade and mobility changes
- Biofuels and other innovation
The Way We Govern
“Who exactly has the right to govern climate, who exactly should
exercise authority over the climate system?...How are other non-
government interests represented?”
UN Security Council 2007 – Climate change is a security issue.
The Montreal Protocol – Ozone levels
International vs. national vs. state vs. local actors
What does that success look like?
Beyond Climate Change
“Climate change is everywhere. Not only are the physical climates of the world
everywhere changing, but just as importantly the idea of climate change is now
to be found active across the full parade of human endeavors, institutions,
practices, and stories.”
Climate Change vs. climate change
Mirror and Magnifying glass
Attribution of all global problems to climate change
(Mega-problem awaiting a mega-solution)
….good luck with that.