How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate PDF Download

Author: Andrew J. Hoffman
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804795053
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Though the scientific community largely agrees that climate change is underway, debates about this issue remain fiercely polarized. These conversations have become a rhetorical contest, one where opposing sides try to achieve victory through playing on fear, distrust, and intolerance. At its heart, this split no longer concerns carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, or climate modeling; rather, it is the product of contrasting, deeply entrenched worldviews. This brief examines what causes people to reject or accept the scientific consensus on climate change. Synthesizing evidence from sociology, psychology, and political science, Andrew J. Hoffman lays bare the opposing cultural lenses through which science is interpreted. He then extracts lessons from major cultural shifts in the past to engender a better understanding of the problem and motivate the public to take action. How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate makes a powerful case for a more scientifically literate public, a more socially engaged scientific community, and a more thoughtful mode of public discourse.

Author: Mike Hulme
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429821158
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Contemporary Climate Change Debates is an innovative new textbook which tackles some of the difficult questions raised by climate change. For the complex policy challenges surrounding climate migration, adaptation and resilience, structured debates become effective learning devices for students. This book is organised around 15 important questions, and is split into four parts: What do we need to know? What should we do? On what grounds should we base our actions? Who should be the agents of change? Each debate is addressed by pairs of one or two leading or emerging academics who present opposing viewpoints. Through this format the book is designed to introduce students of climate change to different arguments prompted by these questions, and also provides a unique opportunity for them to engage in critical thinking and debate amongst themselves. Each chapter concludes with suggestions for further reading and with discussion questions for use in student classes. Drawing upon the sciences, social sciences and humanities to debate these ethical, cultural, legal, social, economic, technological and political roadblocks, Contemporary Debates on Climate Change is essential reading for all students of climate change, as well as those studying environmental policy and politics and sustainable development more broadly.

Author: Andrew E. Dessler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521831703
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
An introduction to the climate-change debate for non-specialists.

Author: Elizabeth L Malone
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136546146
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
As greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated and contentious voices fill the air, the question gains urgency: How can people with widely varying viewpoints agree to address climate change? Each participant in the debate seems to have a different agenda, from protecting economic growth in developing countries to protecting the energy industry in industrialized countries, from those aghast at the damage done to the Earth to optimists who think we just need to adjust our technological approach. Debating Climate Change sorts through the tangle of arguments surrounding climate change to find paths to unexpected sites of agreement. Using an innovative sociological approach - combined discourse and social network analyses - Elizabeth L. Malone analyzes 100 documents representing a range of players in this high-stakes debate. Through this she shows how even the most implacable adversaries can find common ground - and how this common ground can be used to build agreement. Written in a clear, accessible style, this original research and insightful use of communication analysis will help advance understanding and negotiation on climate change throughout the pivotal times to come. Published with Science in Society

Author: David E. Newton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
The Climate Change Debate: A Reference Handbook provides an in-depth look at climate change facts and statistics. It also discusses debate surrounding the scientific consensus. The Climate Change Debate: A Reference Handbook covers the topic of climate change from the earliest days of planet Earth to the present day. Chapters One and Two provide a historical background of climate change and a review of current problems, controversies, and solutions. The remainder of the book consists of chapters that aid readers in continuing their own research on the topic, such as an extended annotated bibliography, chronology, glossary, noteworthy individuals and organizations in the field, and important data and documents. The variety of resources provided, such as further reading, perspective essays about climate change, a historical timeline, and useful terms in the climate change discourse, differentiates this book from others in the field. The book is intended for readers of high school through the community college level, along with adult readers who may be interested in the topic.

Author: Kjersti Flottum
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1315456923
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
This volume takes a distinctive look at the climate change debate, already widely studied across a number of disciplines, by exploring the myriad linguistic and discursive perspectives and approaches at play in the climate change debate as represented in a variety of genres. The book focuses on key linguistic themes, including linguistic polyphony, lexical choices, metaphors, narration, and framing, and uses examples from diverse forms of media, including scientific documents, policy reports, op-eds, and blogs, to shed light on how information and knowledge on climate change can be represented, disseminated, and interpreted and in turn, how they can inform further discussion and debate. Featuring contributions from a global team of researchers and drawing on a broad array of linguistic approaches, this collection offers an extensive overview of the role of language in the climate change debate for graduate students, researchers, and scholars in applied linguistics, environmental communication, discourse analysis, political science, climatology, and media studies.

Author: David G. Victor
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
ISBN: 9780876093436
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Council on Foreign Relations This book provides a balanced and comprehensive account of the issues involved in climate change and the range of domestic and foreign policy options available to American policymakers.

Author: Greg Craven
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101082194
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
7.2 million YouTube viewers can't be wrong: A provocative new way to look at the global warming debate. Based on a series of viral videos that have garnered more than 7.2 million views, this visually appealing book gives readers-be they global warming activists, soccer moms, or NASCAR dads-a way to decide on the best course of action, by asking them to consider, "What's the worst that could happen?" And for those who decide that action is needed, Craven provides a solution that is not only powerful but also happens to be stunningly easy. Not just another "change your light bulb" book, this intriguing and provocative guide is the first to help readers make sense-for themselves-of the contradictory statements about global climate change. The globe is warming! or The globe is not warming. We're the ones doing it! or It's a natural cycle. It's gonna be a catastrophe! or It'll be harmless. This is the biggest threat to humankind! or This is the biggest hoax in history. Watch a Video

Author: Shahir Masri
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692157411
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
What if volcanoes are heating the planet? Maybe solar cycles are to blame? Isn't carbon dioxide good for plants? These are but a few of the questions on global warming that are addressed in this book. If you are concerned that global warming may be a serious problem, but find it hard to know what to believe or how to help in the face of conflicting arguments, you will want to read this book. You don't have to be a scientist to understand Dr. Shahir Masri's explanations and solutions. They proceed along common-sense lines that are easy to follow. Climate change poses a major threat to public health and the environment. Yet, political squabbles and misinformation have stalled policy and enabled little progress to be made in solving the crisis. Similarly, the notion of a "climate debate" has created the illusion of a divided scientific community, when in fact most scientists agree that human activity is causing the planet to warm. At a time when open discussion is essential, talk of global warming has become entrenched in politics and all but taboo in unfamiliar company. In Beyond Debate, Shahir Masri clears up 50 of the most common misconceptions surrounding climate change. He simplifies the science and resolves the confusion so that everyone may better understand the issue. Now is not the time for silence, but rather a time for conversation and collective action to address greenhouse gas emissions and begin to solve the climate crisis. Action begins with understanding, which Beyond Debate so eloquently offers. Masri conveys a sense of urgency while describing opportunities for hope.

Author: Sune Auken
Publisher: De Gruyter Open
ISBN: 9788395720482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Benefits The volume establishes a dynamic interplay between two high-level research fields: humanistic climate studies and genre research The volume offer an understanding of the way the structural and ideological issues in the debate over anthropogenic climate change are determined by the genres in play in the debate. The volume continues key developments in contemporary genre research, in particular the use of genre in political campaigning and the uptake of genre information and action across genre systems. The greatest conundrum concerning anthropogenic climate change may prove to be in the humanities and the social sciences. How is it even possible that highly exigent information for which overwhelming evidence exists does not make an immediate and strong impact on ideologies, policies, and life practices across the globe? This volume offers an intriguing and enlightening new approach to the the climate debate by taking it as a question of genre. Genres are the cultural categories that structure human understanding and communication, and genre research therefore offers a central key to unlocking the conundrum. From a genre perspective, if there is one thing the climate debate demonstrates, it is the inertia inherent in genre use. Patterns of understanding and interpretation once established seem to carry on even when they have long outlived their usefulness. However, it is also evident that uses of genre can work to change this inertia.Genres play a vital role in human interaction, as we use them to learn, express ourselves, and to act. How individual actors utilize or manipulates genres determines to what extent knowledge of climate change spreads from the scientific community to the public, how it is debated, and to what extent it leads to positive action.