Product Description

Climate change is not ‘a problem’ waiting for ‘a solution’. It is an environmental, cultural and political phenomenon which is re-shaping the way we think about ourselves, our societies and humanity’s place on Earth. Drawing upon twenty-five years of professional work as an international climate change scientist and public commentator, Mike Hulme provides a unique insider’s account of the emergence of this phenomenon and the diverse ways in which it is understood. He uses different standpoints from science, economics, faith, psychology, communication, sociology, politics and development to explain why we disagree about climate change. In this way he shows that climate change, far from being simply an ‘issue’ or a ‘threat’, can act as a catalyst to revise our perception of our place in the world. Why We Disagree About Climate Change is an important contribution to the ongoing debate over climate change and its likely impact on our lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3359 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
'This is a very rare book. A scientific book about climate change, that deals both with the science, and our own personal response to this science. It does all this supremely well, and should be compulsory reading for both sceptics and advocates. However, it does so much more, it is a book of great modesty and humanity. It uses climate change to ask questions more broadly about our own beliefs, assumptions and prejudices, and how we make individual and collective decisions.' Chris Mottershead, Distinguished Advisor, BP p.l.c.

‘In this personal and deeply reflective book, a distinguished climate researcher shows why it may be both wrong and frustrating to keep asking what we can do for climate change. Tracing the many meanings of climate in culture, Hulme asks instead what climate change can do for us. Uncertainty and ambiguity emerge here as resources, because they force us to confront those things we really want - not safety in some distant, contested future but justice and self-understanding now. Without downplaying its seriousness, Hulme demotes climate change from ultimate threat to constant companion, whose murmurs unlock in us the instinct for justice and equality.’ Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard University

‘This book is a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in the relationship between science and society. As we know from other controversies over GM Crops and MMR, by the time science hits the headlines, and therefore the public consciousness, it’s always about much more than the science. This book shines a fascinating light on this process by revealing how climate change has been transformed from a physical phenomenon, measurable and observable by scientists, into a social, cultural and political one. Everyone must surely recognize Hulme’s description of the way climate change has become a kind of Christmas tree onto which we all hang our personal favourite bauble and Hulme highlights the way the issue has been appropriated by so many different groups to promote their own causes. Believers in turning the clock forwards and using more advanced technology, and those who argue we should turn the clock back and live more simply can equally claim that climate change supports their case. Over the past few years Hulme has bravely spoken out against what some have described as ‘climate porn’, the tendency of some sections of the scientific community and the media to present climate change in ever more catastrophic and apocalyptic terms. This book elaborates on Hulme's hostility to the language of ‘imminent peril’ and calls for a different discourse. This book is so important because Mike Hulme cannot be dismissed as a skeptic yet he is calling for a radical change in the way we discuss climate change. Whether or not people agree with his conclusions - this book is a challenging, thought-provoking and radical way to kick start that discussion.’ Fiona Fox, Director, Science Media Centre, London

‘With empirical experience that includes seven years’ leading the influential Tyndall Centre, Professor Hulme here argues that science alone is insufficient to face climate change. We also 'need to reveal the creative psychological, spiritual and ethical work that climate change can do and is doing for us'. It is the very 'intractability of climate change', its sociological status as a 'wicked' problematique, that requires us to reappraise the 'myths' or foundational belief systems in which the science unfolds. That returns Hulme to the bottom line question: 'What is the human project ultimately about?' and herein resides this book’s distinctive importance.’ Alastair McIntosh, author of Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition, and Visiting Professor of Human Ecology at the Department of Geography and Sociology, University of Strathclyde

‘A much needed re-examination of the idea of climate change from a vantage point that takes its cultural coordinates as seriously as its physical properties. Through the twin lenses of scientific scrutiny and rhetorical analysis, Mike Hulme helps us to see just why we disagree about climate change and what we can do about it. With wisdom, wit and winsome writing, he shows us that debates about climate change turn out to be disputes about ourselves - our hopes, our fears, our aspirations, our identity. Hindsight, insight and foresight combine to make this book a rare treat.’ David N. Livingstone, Professor of Historical Geography, Queen’s University, Belfast

'In a crowded and noisy world of climate change publications, this will stand tall. Mike Hulme speaks with the calm yet authoritative voice of the integrationist. He sees climate change as both a scientific and a moral issue, challenging our presumed right to be 'human' to our offspring and to the pulsating web of life that sustains habitability for all living beings. As a peculiar species we have the power do create intolerable conditions for the majority of our descendents. Yet we also have the scientific knowledge, the economic strength, and the political capacity to change direction and put a stop to avoidable calamity. This readable book provides us with the necessary argument and strategy to follow the latter course.’ Tim O’Riordan, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia

'Hulme articulates quite complex arguments in a remarkably clear and effective manner. He not only covers a lot of ground, but by avoiding an overly compartmentalized approach he achieves a great deal of connectivity throughout the book. For those who are regularly immersed in the social sciences literature on climate change, the content itself may not hold many surprises. But Hulme's approach makes these arguments accessible and meaningful for a wider audience, and this tome could also serve as a great teaching text. Through the book, Hulme makes important contributions to continued understanding of environmental, cultural, political and physical – eminently interdisciplinary – aspects of climate change. As more citizens, students, scientists and policy players read it, Why We Disagree About Climate Change is very likely to be an important and 'discernible influence' on the ways we think about and discuss global change, and how we plan to engage with it.' Nature Reports: Climate Change

About the Author
Mike Hulme is Professor of Climate Change in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA), and Founding Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers and over 30 books or book chapters on climate change topics. He has prepared climate scenarios and reports for the UK Government, the European Commission, UNEP, UNDP, WWF-International and the IPCC. He is leading the EU Integrated Project ADAM (Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies) during the period 2006–2009, which comprises a 26-member European research consortium contributing research to the development of EU climate policy. He co-edits the journal Global Environmental Change and is Editor-in-Chief of the Interdisciplinary Review on Climate Change.

Customer Reviews

Makes you think..........
I bought this book because of my increasing unease about some of the contradictory and apocalyptic comments that were being made about climate change. Although I don't doubt the fact that the world is warming, and that humans are to a greater or lesser degree responsible, I am irritated and concerned about simplistic reporting of and commenting upon climate change issues by the media, politicians and various pressure groups. An example of this is the Guardian's '100 months to save the world' series of articles. I understand the premises behind this, (both the scientific basis, and the desire to force actions), but I find my own response is to oscillate between becoming completely fatalistic, and rejecting the whole argument, as the world (with or without us) clearly will still be there in 101 months. This book helped me to articulate to myself the reasons for this reaction.

From my lay-person's understanding of science, I know that there must be a lot of uncertainty about future predictions, and that we lack the tools to forecast in what specific (and to a degree localised) ways climate change will be catastrophic (or not), although we can anticipate many of the things that might happen. This book is about the disagreements about what might happen, and how these are played out through various cultural manifestations, which shape the way we think and act.

A lot of the disagreements have as their basis the relationship between science and wider society, and the fact that the choice of responses to climate change is inevitably political, and in some cases, ethical. With such complexity, there is a need for more, rather than less, critical thought. Blind allegiance to 'green' or 'eco' causes, without being ready to learn and debate will not get us there.

This is a well-researched, fairly academic book, rather than a straight polemical read. This is to its credit, although it can make the underlying ideas hard to put across.

Vital reading for anyone trying to persuade others to do something about climate change
This is a really important book about climate change and therefore about all of our futures, whether we are actively seeking to embed the implications of climate change into our work and lives - or not.

I was initially put off by the title - assuming it would be a well-argued put-down of various 'climate change deniers' by one of the world's leading climatologists (though the 1-star reviewers here could probably do with one of those, and perhaps with actually reading this book too!). I didn't need to read another one of those.

But then I read a short article by Mike Hulme and realised it was so much more. This book is a drains-up analysis of why science, economics, politics, religious and secular systems of ethics, the media are each inadequate for providing 'the answers' many seek to the questions about what we should be doing as a society - or even as a species - in response to the potentially dramatic climatic chagnes we have unintentionally unleashed on our futures.

Hulme draws skillfully on a wide range of academic disciplines and lays out his compelling narrative with care and clarity, leading the reader through the logic of his analysis with ease.

If you've never asked yourself WHY climate change matters - or if you have but then didn't challenge your own answer for its failure to be anything other than your own answer - you'll be stimulated and, potentially, liberated and empowered by this book.

Great Reading on Tricky Subject
Mike Hulme deals with the complex area of why people disagree about climate change in an interesting easy to read way. He doesn't offer any solutions but certainly made me think. The last chapter was the most challenging. I will certainly try to take more of a personal responsibility for the world I live in from now on.