Politics of Climate Change : A Survey

Climate change is a defining issue in contemporary life. Since the Industrial Revolution, heavy reliance on carbon-based sources for energy in industry and society has contributed to substantial changes in the climate, indicated by increases in temperature and sea level rise.

In the last three decades, concerns regarding human contributions to climate change have moved from obscure scientific inquiries to the fore of science, politics, policy and practices at many levels. From local adaptation strategies to international treaty negotiation, ‘the politics of climate change’ is as pervasive, vital and contested as it has ever been.

On the cusp of a new commitment to international co-operation to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, this essential book intervenes to help understand and engage with the dynamic and compelling ‘Politics of Climate Change’.

This edited collection draws on a vast array of experience, expertise and perspectives, with authors with backgrounds in climate science, geography, environmental studies, biology, sociology, political science, psychology and philosophy. This reflects the contemporary conditions where the politics of climate change permeates and penetrates all facets of our shared lives and livelihoods.

Chapters include the Politics of Climate Science, History of Climate Policy, the Cultural Politics of Climate Change: Interactions in the Spaces of Everyday, the Politics of Interstate Climate Negotiations, the Politics of the Carbon Economy, and Addressing Inequality.

An A – Z glossary of key terms offers additional information in dictionary format, with entries on topics including Carbon tax, Stabilization, Renewable technologies and the World Meteorological Organization.

A section of Maps offers a visual overview of the effects of environmental change.

Maxwell T. Boykoff is Associate Professor in the Center for Science and Technology Policy, and Fellow in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado-Boulder. In Boulder he also teaches in the Environmental Studies programme. Previously, he was a James Martin Research Fellow in the Environmental Change Institute and a Departmental Lecturer in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He researches issues involving transformations of carbon-based economies and societies, as well as cultural politics and the environment. Cutting across these themes, hi research has concentrated on interactions between state and non-state actors at the interface of environmental science, policy considerations, the role of celebrity endeavours in climate change issues, and links to ethics, environmental justice movements, climate adaptation and public understanding.