(Still) Disagreeing About Climate Change: Which Way Forward?

Abstract

Why does climate change continue to be a forceful idea which divides people? What does this tell us about science, about culture, and about the future? Despite disagreement, how might the idea of climate change nevertheless be used creatively? In this essay I develop my investigation of these questions using four lines of argument. First, the future risks associated with human‐caused climate change are severely underdetermined by science. Scientific predictions of future climates are poorly constrained; even more so the consequences of such climates for evolving human socio‐technological and natural ecosystems. Second, I argue that to act politically in the world, people have to pass judgments on the facts of science; facts do not speak for themselves. Third, because these judgments are different, the strategic goals of policy interventions developed in response to risks associated with future climate change are inevitably multiple and conflicting. Finally, reconciling and achieving diverse goals requires political contestation. “Moving forward” on climate change then becomes a task of investing in the discursive and procedural preconditions for an agonistic politics to work constructively, to enable ways of implementing policies when people disagree.

Living With the Wicked Problem of Climate Change

“…Such conferences, as well as other work published in Zygon (e.g., de Witt, ; Hulme ; Moo, ; Stenmark ; Tucker ) are consistent with the main mission of IRAS, which is to yoke together constructively the understandings of the natural and social sciences with thinking (ancient and modern) about guiding values, in order to enhance well‐being. As the most recent of a series of affirmed statements of purpose says, “IRAS cultivates a community of informed and respectful inquiry and dialogue at the intersections of science with religion, spirituality and philosophy in service of global, societal and personal well‐being” (http://www.iras.org/about.html).…”

“…Over the past twenty-five years IRAS has held several conferences related to our planet's environment, how humans are involved in its degradation, its rebound effects on humans, and what we might do to change our ways: 1993 on "Global Ecology and Human Destiny" (Ferré 1993;Rolston 2003); 2003 on "Ecomorality"; 2004 on "Earth's Waters in Crisis: a Scientific, Spiritual, and Moral Challenge"; 2010 on "The Energy Transition" (Christiansen 2011;Harper 2011;Irvine 2011;Laurendeau 2011;Perkins 2011;Rasmussen 2011;Rasmussen, Laurendeau, and Solomon 2011;Ravikrishna 2011); 2012 on "Saving the Future"; 2013 on "Scientific and Moral Challenges in Solving the World's Food Crisis" (Bennett 2014;Finn 2014;Raman 2014;Sanford 2014); and now in 2017 "The Wicked Problem of Climate Change: What Is It Doing to Us and for Us?" Such conferences, as well as other work published in Zygon (e.g., de Witt, 2015;Hulme 2015;Moo, 2015;Stenmark 2015;Tucker 2015) are consistent with the main mission of IRAS, which is to yoke together constructively the understandings of the natural and social sciences with thinking (ancient and modern) about guiding values, in order to enhance well-being. As the most recent of a series of affirmed statements of purpose says, "IRAS cultivates a community of informed and respectful inquiry and dialogue at the intersections of science with religion, spirituality and philosophy in service of global, societal and personal well-being" (http://www.iras.org/about.html).…”

As condições de produção do discurso da revista Superinteressante sobre a mudança climática (1995 – 2015)

“…Os sentidos reiterados sinalizam a preocupação de Superinteressante em enfatizar que a mudança do clima está diretamente vinculada ao agir humano. O gesto interpretativo permite associar essa Formação Discursiva com a chamada narrativa do Antropoceno, sublinhada por Hulme (2015). Esse modelo de narrar, conforme elucida o autor, se refere a uma nova era geológica em que as ações humanas se tornaram dominantes no funcionamento do planeta.…”

“…A mudança climática está remodelando a forma como as pessoas pensam sobre si mesmas, suas sociedades e seus futuros (Hulme, 2015). O discurso jornalís-tico, especialmente o que possui caráter "revistativo" (Tavares, 2011), contribui estrategicamente na visibilidade, na mediação, na análise, na interpretação e na compreensão pública do problema.…”

Innovation Systems for Transformations towards Sustainability? Taking the Normative Dimension Seriously

“…However, it has been criticized that normative or ethical aspects of sustainability have often been misrepresented or even disregarded [104]. Although conceptions of sustainability share a general normative outlook, they differ on what the desired state should look like and by which means (i.e., practices) it ought to be attained (e.g., [7,[105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113]). In other words, different societal actors have different worldviews and visions with regard to (pathways to) sustainability [114][115][116].…”