Addressing the Climate Crisis: Local action in theory and practice

by Candice Howarth (Editor), Matthew Lane (Editor), Amanda Slevin (Editor)

Overview

This open access book brings together a collection of cutting-edge insights into how action can and is already being taken against climate change at multiple levels of our societies, amidst growing calls for transformative and inclusive climate action. In an era of increasing recognition regarding climate and ecological breakdown, this book offers hope, inspiration and analyses for multi-level climate action, spanning varied communities, places, spaces, agents and disciplines, demonstrating how the energy and dynamism of local scales are a powerful resource in turning the tide. Interconnected yet conceptually distinct, the book’s three sections span multiple levels of analysis, interrogating diverse perspectives and practices inherent to the vivid tapestry of climate action emerging locally, nationally and internationally. Delivered in collaboration with the UK’s ‘Place-Based Climate Action Network’, chapters are drawn from a wide range of authors with varying backgrounds spread acrossacademia, policy and practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030797386
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/05/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2022
Pages:	143
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Candice Howarth is Senior Policy Fellow at the LSE Grantham Research Institute and Co-director of the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN). She has an interdisciplinary background in climate policy, communication and pro-environmental behaviour with degrees in meteorology (BSc), climate change (MSc) and a Ph.D. in climate policy and pro-environmental behaviour.

Matthew Lane is Researcher in Sustainable Urban Governance at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on how city and regional governments are coping with an increased responsibility to act on crises of sustainability despite having limited legal, institutional, political and economic capacity to do so. He has undertaken fieldwork in the UK, Zambia, China and the United States of America.

Amanda Slevin is Environmental Sociologist with 20+ years’ experience in community development, adult and community education. Co-Director of QUB’s Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action, Amanda works with the Place-based Climate Action Network through which she co-founded Belfast Climate Commission and chairs its Community Climate Action Working Group.

Table of Contents

Section 1: Community and place in local climate praxis.- 1.Local climate praxis in practice: Community climate action in Belfast.- 2.Putting the ‘Place’ in place-based climate action: Insights from climate adaptation initiatives across Scotland.- 3.A commoner’s climate movement.- 4.The Envirolution Revolution: Raising awareness of climate change creatively through free and accessible community engagement festivals.- Section 2: The spaces of local climate action.- 5.How have climate emergency declarations helped local government action to decarbonise?.- 6.Developing a carbon baseline to support multi-stakeholder, multi-level climate governance at county level.- 7.Power in practice: reflecting on the first year of the Edinburgh Climate Commission.- 8.How can ‘ordinary’ cities become climate pioneers?.- Section 3: The agents of local climate action.- 9.Effective communication on local adaptation: considerations for providers of climate change advice and support.-10.Diversifying the private sector in local climate commissions.- 11.Citizens’ assemblies and juries on climate change: Lessons from their use in practice.- 12.Rebecca WellsUniversities as living labs for climate praxis.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“We shall not get to Net Zero without local action and Local and Regional Authority participation. This book shows how real subsidiarity works and how important it is. It’s a clarion call to a Government which still hasn’t made local government its partner in the battle against climate change. These are lessons to be learned at every level and their positive story gives us all renewed hope.”

-The Rt Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change

“Local communities have emerged as influential drivers of action against climate change and important sources of institutional and behavioural innovation. This powerful book, written by a new generation of climate experts, provides a thoughtful introduction into the theory and practice of place-based climate action.”

-Professor Sam Fankhauser, Professor of Climate Change Economics and Policy, University of Oxford and Research Director, Oxford Martin Initiative on a Net-Zero Recovery

“What does it mean to deliver place-based climate action, and how can we make that possible? Making a deliberate effort to engage with the complexity of climate action and the contradictions of place-based initiatives, this book points towards the potential for a new, more just, politics of climate change: a politics that puts people’s voices at its center.”

-Professor Vanesa Castan Broto, Professor of Climate Urbanism, University of Sheffield and a lead author for the IPCC Working group II on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

"There is real urgency to tackle the climate crisis and local action is playing a critical role in this. This book provides a rich set of contributions on the theoretical and practical applications of climate action which make an important contribution to the debate on what it means to deliver and assess action on climate change on the ground"

-Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive, New Economics Foundation