Culture, Politics and Climate Change

Deserai A. Crow is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program, Center for Science and Technology Policy Research and Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, USA.Maxwell T. Boykoff is Fellow in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, USA.

This important new book explores the cultural politics of climate change. With dispatches from the front lines of diverse fields and geographies, the authors provide some of the first maps of this fast evolving landscape underlying some of the most important decisions humanity will make in the 21st century. –Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University, USAClimate change is the most important environmental challenge we face yet there has been little political action to address the problem. This volume examines the reasons for inaction, by considering different cultural and ethical perspectives and how the media plays a role in translating and presenting scientific information. It provides the most comprehensive assessment available, by leading experts in the field.–Raymond Bradley, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USAIf you can't keep up with the fire hose of daily information and communication about climate change, much less make sense of what it all means and what it tells us about not just our climate, but also about our culture, the media, and the politics that choreograph our dance around the burning question of what to do about the problem, then I recommend you find a comfortable chair, step back from the heat, and read this book. Here are some great people trying to sort out the complex terrain of media and culture that lies between our everyday lives and the "grand stage" of climate change politics and policy-making. It is not all pretty, but it is helpful, and therefore hopeful.–Susanne Moser, Susanne Moser Research & Consulting, Stanford, USAThe only thing more complex than the climate system is the tangle of meanings we've wrapped around it. The varied perspectives gathered in this important book go a long way toward unsnarling the cultural politics of climate change—the first step in weaving the stories and policies we’ll need to move forward.–Jean Goodwin, Iowa State University, USAFrom citizens' perspectives over the 'old' and 'new' media all the way to politics and decision-making – Crow and Boykoff’s volume is an excellent example of a societal turn in the analysis of climate change, and deals with its most pressing issues.–Mike Schafer, University of Zurich, Switzerland"This book offers a breakthrough in moving the best academic talents toward speaking more plainly in their contributions to public information and decision-making. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." --F. T. Manheim, George Mason University, CHOICE Reviews, February 2015

• Overview Introduction Part 1 Culture and Climate Change Communication 1. Beyond "gloom and doom" or "hope and possibility": Making Room for Both Sacrifice and Reward in Visions of a Low-Carbon Future 2. Polar Bears, Inuit Names, and Climate Citizenship: Understanding Climate Change Visual Culture through Green Consumerism, Environmental Philanthropy, and Indigeneity Commentary by Mike Hulme Part 2 Media as Actors and Contributors to the Climate Politics and Policy 3. #Climatenews: Summit Journalism and Digital Networks 4. TV Weathercasters and Climate Education in the Shadow of Climate Change Conflict 5. Re-examining the Media-Policy Link: Climate Change and Government Elites in Peru Commentary by Joe Smith Part 3 Climate Politics and Policy 6. Climate Science, Populism, and the Democracy of Rejection 7. Explaining Information Sources in Climate Policy Debates 8. Navigating Controversies in Search of Neutrality: Analyzing Efforts by Public Think Tanks to Inform Climate Change Policy Commentary by Matthew C. Nisbet Part 4 Emerging Research in Climate Politics and Policy 9. Governing Subjectivities in a Carbon Constrained World 10. Making Climate Science Communication Evidence-based—All the Way Down Commentary by Alison Anderson