While there is a recognised need to adapt to changing climatic conditions, there is an emerging discourse of limits to such adaptation. Limits are traditionally analysed as a set of immutable thresholds in biological, economic or technological parameters. This paper contends that limits to adaptation are endogenous to society and hence contingent on ethics, knowledge, attitudes to risk and culture. We review insights from history, sociology and psychology of risk, economics and political science to develop four propositions concerning limits to adaptation. First, any limits to adaptation depend on the ultimate goals of adaptation underpinned by diverse values. Second, adaptation need not be limited by uncertainty around future foresight of risk. Third, social and individual factors limit adaptation action. Fourth, systematic undervaluation of loss of places and culture disguises real, experienced but subjective limits to adaptation. We conclude that these issues of values and ethics, risk, knowledge and culture construct societal limits to adaptation, but that these limits are mutable.

Public understandings and perceptions of, as well as engagement with, climate change have garnered the interest of research and policy for almost three decades. A portion of this growing body of literature examines such perceptions in-depth, using largely qualitative methodologies, such as personal interviews, limited sample size surveys, focus groups, and case studies. This area of research has been conducted on different continents, with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and ethnic groups, and a variety of demographic characteristics. It has examined various aspects of the communication process, such as audience differences, influence of framing, messages and messengers, information processing, etc.). This paper focuses on this subset of the climate change literature, highlighting similarities and differences across cultural, social, and geographical landscapes. Apart from demographic and regional differences, this literature also offers more detailed insights into the effectiveness of different communication strategies and into the cognitive and psychological processes that underlie public opinions. These insights are generally not obtained through large-scale opinion surveys. Our review highlights great variation and sometimes direct contradiction between these pieces of research. This not only points to a need for further refinement in our knowledge of public understanding and engagement, but also simply to accept that no one theory will explain the variation in human experience of climate change and action in response to it.

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The Heatwave Plan should consider giving greater emphasis to a population-based information strategy, using innovative information dissemination methods to increase awareness of vulnerability to heat among the elderly and to ensure clarity about behaviour modification measures.

Values play a significant role in climate change debates. To date, however, the use of the term values has been narrowly focused on monetary worth, relative worth, or fair return on exchanges. This article argues that another, broader interpretation of values, one concentrating on intrinsically desirable principles or qualities is needed to understand and respond to climate change. How to respond to climate change impacts depends importantly on what the effects of climate change mean to those affected. Similarly, what is considered as effective and legitimate adaptation depends on what people perceive to be worth preserving and achieving. How to adapt to climate change therefore hinges on the values underlying people's perspectives on what the goals of adaptation should be. This article examines what a values-based approach is, why it is needed, and what its benefits for understanding adaptation are. The implications for research and policy are discussed.  2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Clim Change 2010 1 232-242T he concept of values has played a significant role in climate change debates. There have been many discussions about present and future values, discounted values, the value of climate policies, the value of a human life, the utility value of a project, and so on. [1][2][3][4] Yet all of these usages relate to very narrow definitions of values, namely monetary worth, relative worth, or a fair return on exchanges, all of which are typically measured or calculated as numerical quantities. Only recently has another interpretation of values entered into climate change discourses-values relating to principles or qualities that are intrinsically desirable. The emergence of this broader and subjective interpretation of values is not surprising, given that it is now understood by many scientists and policymakers that climate change is occurring, and that, regardless of efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, societies will both experience and have to adapt to impacts. 5 Conditions and experiences that are subjectively and differentially valued will be affected by climate change.

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IntroductionWeather events that lead to seasonal risks such as flooding, drought, heat waves, and cold spells have negative impacts on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. The prospect of increased incidences of such events as a result of climate change is a primary concern of policy makers and climate scientists. The relative scale and magnitude of changes in weather due to future climate change are the focus of much climate change research (summarised in Parry et al, 2007) and the probabilities and risks of events are incorporated into insurance, health, and contingency planning. Yet, public perceptions that shape responses to seasonal risks are less well understood, while they affect planning and the climate-change adaptation challenge. Most literature concerned with the effects of extremely hot and cold weather, for example, examines the epidemiology of heat waves (

Ecological citizenship presents a normative account of how citizens should conduct their lives, reducing their environmental impact. Little research has characterised ecological citizenship in practice or in the context of climate change. Q methodology is applied to a case study in Canada to scrutinise how individuals respond to climate change. The results identify four factors - the communitarian, the systemist, the sceptic and the economist - three of which suggest strongly that participants act on perceived individual responsibility for climate change. Practising ecological citizenship motivates individuals' responses to climate change. The actions taken suggest that behavioural change is the result of a complex negotiation between living standards, knowledge of causes of and contributions to climate change, and perceived intensity of greenhouse gas emission. The practice of ecological citizenship involves individuals' actions as voters and consumers, and concerns the power and justice implications of a resource intensive Western lifestyle