Society And Climate: Transformations And Challenges

by Nico Stehr, Amanda Machin

Overview

Climate has for a long time been a taken-for-granted background against which social, political and economic interactions have taken place. But this taken-for-granted background is cleaving. It is becoming hard to ignore the potential repercussions of a changing climate, and the uneven impact of certain forms of human society and energy cultures that risk undermining their own environmental conditions.In a comprehensive and accessible way, this book:

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789813272422
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/14/2019
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Overview xi

Chapter 1 Introduction: Society, Nature, Climate 1

1.1 The Nature of Weather 2

1.2 The Climate of Science 6

1.3 The Climate of Society 9

1.4 Conclusion: Climates of Disagreement 14

References 15

Chapter 2 Climate as Scientific Object 21

2.1 Climate as Average Weather 22

2.2 Measuring the Climate 31

2.3 The Emergence of a New Paradigm 35

2.4 The Discovery of the "Greenhouse Effect" 38

2.5 Modelling the Climate 41

2.6 Conclusion: Climate as Possible Weather 43

References 44

Chapter 3 Climate as Cycle and Change 47

3.1 The History of the Science of Climate Change 49

3.2 Natural Climate Variability 56

3.3 Anthropogenic Climate Change 60

3.4 Measuring and Modelling Climate Change 64

3.5 The Impact and Inequality of Climate Change 69

3.6 Conclusion: Understanding Change 76

References 77

Chapter 4 Climate as Determinant 83

4.1 Climate Works? 86

4.2 Ellsworth Huntington 92

4.3 Climate Determinism: A Critique 98

4.4 Climate Determinism: A Revival? 103

4.5 Climate Determinism: A Comparison 106

4.6 Conclusion: Climate Matters 110

Appendix 114

Chapter 5 Climate as Public Perception 131

5.1 Trusting the Climate 133

5.2 Distrusting the Climate? 138

5.3 Mistrusting the Science? 141

5.4 Conclusion: Social Change? 145

References 145

Chapter 6 Climate as Policy Issue 149

6.1 Scientific Policy 150

6.2 Economic Policy 155

6.3 Regulatory Policy 161

6.4 Climate Policy: Who Decides? 163

References 168

Chapter 7 Summary and Prospects 175

References 180

Author Index 183

Subject Index 189