Leigh Glover

• Karlstads Universitet

This book analyzes climate change from a societal risk perspective, considering IPCC data, harm reduction, and global impact. Climate change is a globalised agent of social disruption whose impacts will worsen societal inequities and inequalities around the world. For some unfortunate societies already precariously exposed, climate change will tip...

Societal risk is advanced as a concept that is differentiated from the generic social risks of climate change. Societal risk is formally defined and its four constituent elements are expounded: (1) Ecosystem services cover provisioning, regulating and supporting services and are essential for human life; all are vulnerable to climate change and hav...

In concluding the volume, the chapter reconnects to the book’s aims, draws together the work’s major themes and offers some overarching conclusions. After overviewing salient features of climate change as societal risk, the case for being concerned over societal risk is presented, drawing a distinction between general social risks and the special c...

Opening with a brief history of risk theory, the chapter then examines scientific-technical risk theories. Three key theories are covered: Normal accident theory, Positivist risk theory and Rational choice risk theory. These reviews encompass how risk is defined and understood as a scientific phenomenon, the view that catastrophic failures in compl...

Societal and civilisational collapse in the past due to climatic events, climate change and related phenomena has captured the attention of the public and policymakers alike, albeit with some controversy. Despite justified scepticism over some historical and pre-historical cases, climate change clearly constitutes a risk to existing and future soci...

Politics is a key factor in determining the societal construction of risk, its use and the consequences of that use. Societal transformation is central in responding to the political challenges of societal risk but requires understanding these political factors. Three forms of political inquiry are used to explore these risks: Political ecology, so...

This chapter introduces the era of climate change in which we are living and connects this to the concept of the Anthropocene. A primer to the concept of risk precedes a discussion of climate change risks and the challenges these entail for society. Central concepts of climate change risks are defined and explained. Societal risk is introduced and...

This chapter delves into the identity and character of climate and climate change risks. These risks are socially constructed and, as such, respond to dynamic changes in society. By examining climate and climate change risks from three contrasting temporal perspectives, the shifts in these risks can be brought to light. Historical, contemporary and...

This chapter addresses the counterforces of cultural and social risk theories to the technocratic and apolitical perspectives characterising earlier conventional risk theory. Risk has, over the post-WW2 years, become commonplace in everyday language and media reports. At the same time, new theories of risk focusing on risks as socially constructed...

An emerging component of the adaptation discourse, embracing theory, practice and review, is that of the negative assessment of adaptation, namely, maladaptation. Political theories and concepts have been applied as one of these assessment tools, giving rise to a political critique of maladaptation. Such a critique contrasts with the more conventio...

Cities are increasingly impacted by climate change, driving the need for adaptation and sustainable development. Local and global economic and socio-cultural influence are also driving city redevelopment. This, fundamentally political, development highlights issues of who pays and who gains, who decides and how, and who/what is to be valued. Climat...

In this chapter, we provide a general description of climate change adaptation as an idea and a set of practices. It begins with an account of the changing perspectives of adaptation and an overview of key aspects, including sectors of most activity, goals, measures and barriers. The relationship to two related discourses, namely disaster risk redu...

This chapter examines two underlying contextual issues of adaptation politics: Governance and sustainability. Here, the focus is on governance, not just governments. A significant change in context is the change in perception that adaptation is not only a local issue, but now is multi-scalar. Public policy is a central aspect of governance, but the...

This chapter introduces and lays out the central argument of the book. Adaptation and politics are discussed, and we argue for the need to understand climate change adaptation as a political phenomenon. We examine how adaptation has been defined and understood, explaining how this has changed and evolved. Key concepts and major themes in the policy...

Many political analyses of adaptation politics have been undertaken, ranging across an array of issues, locations and subjects and using a variety of political approaches, frameworks and concepts. In this chapter, four prominent and contrasting approaches are examined as these encompass much of this political scholarship: Institutional reform of de...

This chapter describes and discusses the key themes in adaptation politics: Equity, decision-making, power, Nature, gender and commons management. A further section covers what are described as ‘implicit’ (or embodied) politics in two forms of adaptation, resilience (and its association with neoliberalism) and the politics in socio-ecological trans...

This chapter provides an overview of key influences on the development of adaptation (both conceptually and as a practice) that entail the political. It begins with an account of the interplay of different political and associated elements that are shaping the development of adaptation in what is described as a ‘complex arena’. Adaptation politics...

This book is a must-read for researchers and students interested in gaining a comprehensive overview of the political dimensions of climate change adaptation. The authors remind us that political analysis of adaptation processes is a productive and much needed scholarly endeavour that can shed light on the social complexities and pitfalls of the gr...

In closing the volume, this chapter considers the question of the factors that have shaped and directed the evolution of adaptation politics and the studies examining these changes. Three factors are offered. Firstly, the consequences of the growth and expansion of adaptation interests, themes and activity. Secondly, the effect of external developm...

About the Book City and state governments around the world are struggling to achieve environmentally sustainable transport. Economic, technological, city and transport planning and human behaviour solutions are often hampered by ineffective implementation. So attention is now turning to institutional, governmental and political barriers. Approache...

This paper examines Australia's national policies for adapting to climate change impacts. Recent developments in research funding, institutional capacities and extreme events have resulted in a greater interest and level of activity in adaptation policy. Based on a historical review of national policy, adaptation policy is considered within a polit...

Australia's transport greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are high and continue to grow, with current levels approximately one-third higher than in 1990 and increasing by around 1% annually. Efforts to curtail and reverse this growth have not been successful to date. In recent times, national policy development and debate has centred on market-based mec...

In the first major review of the social dimensions of climate change adaptation, “Adaptation to Climate Change” Pelling (2011) distinguishes between measures that are: a) resilient, b) transitional, and c) transformational. He makes the point that adaptation has been largely concerned identifying “what is to be preserved and what is expendable, rat...

Environmentally sustainable urban transport in Australia requires providing mass mobility in ways with low greenhouse gas emissions. Meeting current passenger mobility needs in the short-term at lower environmental costs necessitates a shifting of the mobility task from private motorcars to mass transport (ie. trains, light rail, and buses) (and to...

Sustainable transport is concerned with the provision of mobility for people and goods with low negative environmental and social impacts. Over several decades a number of approaches, concepts, and tools have been developed to assist decision-makers in the public and private sectors in promoting sustainable transport. Integrated urban transport is...

In Glover (2011) it was proposed that public transport constituted a particular type of economic resource, namely a common pool resource (CPR). This proposition was based on the case that public transport is broadly subject to rivalry between potential consumers and is also generally difficult to exclude potential users. As a CPR, public transport...

Energy is critical to contemporary Australian life as the country’s wealth and prosperity is built on fossil fuel use. Securing energy supply has been largely a routine technical and engineering challenge to date and, through extensive mineral extraction, oil production and importation, and investment in energy supply infrastructure, Australia has...

In this paper we propose that public adaptation policy arises from politics and, accordingly, understanding and analysing such policy has to engage scholars with a keen interest in politics. In line with this proposition a distinguishing feature in this paper is that it seeks to consider adaptation policy for cities in a political context. This pap...

national levels and have been subject to extensive description, research, and analysis. Within this broad swath of government, corporate, and community activity, there has been a significant differentiation between the three major streams of proposed and actual activity; firstly, those of mitigating of greenhouse gas emissions, secondly, identifyin...

Few public transport debates come to terms with the questions of what constitutes public transport, of what is it for, and exactly how it differs from private transport, individual transport, and collective transport. For some engaged in these debates, public transport is supported because of its contribution to net social welfare or to welfare of...

Australia is preparing a national carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) that will include the transport sector as part of the national response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). • Emissions trading is to be a major public policy instrument for achieving the 60% reduction from the year 2000 level of GHG emissions by 2050 that is now the nati...

A much-needed analysis of international climate change politics as a key issue of modernity and in the context of environmentalism. Leigh Glover presents a new way to understand the climate change problem and is concerned with problems of modernity and postmodernity in the context of contemporary environmental thought. Focusing on the international...

Ecological justice is a challenging concept in relation to the current development of agriculture, because it positions social and ecological interests against market liberalism and economic growth. Ecological justice concerns fairness with regard to the common environment based on the idea that environments are fundamentally shared. This chapter i...

Organic agriculture is, like mainstream agriculture, faced with the challenges of globalization and sustainable development. Ecological justice, the fair distribution of livelihoods and environments, has emerged as a key concept in efforts, on the one hand, to resist negative consequences of globalization and ecological modernization and, on the ot...

Global climate change may result in a wide array of social and environmental harms, and this prospect has given rise to an international treaty, the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Scientific uncertainties, nation state politics, and economic resistance had to be addressed before this landmark environmental agreement could be realiz...

The BPOA specifically addresses energy and climate change issues in two sections, in Section I: Climate Change and Sea Level Rise and in Section VII: Energy Resources (United Nations, 1994). These sections focus on the links between energy and climate change policy, and we examine both issues in terms of these links. Below we inventory these develo...

South Korea's economic miracle was founded on a rapidly expanding electricity sector, using a model we term 'synergistic development,' in which electricity and economic growth are regarded as mutually reinforcing imperatives of modernization. A legacy of the model has been high public sector debt, extensive use of nuclear energy, high environmental...

Science, Engineering, and Technology Services Program, supported by the Delaware General Assembly and the University of Delaware

Electricity sector reform has become commonplace around the world, but few nations can match the extent of transformation attempted in South Korea. On December 8, 2000, two legislative initiatives provided the basis for dividing the national electricity monopoly into several companies, with the aim of privatizing them. Further, the legislation esta...

Position paper prepared for the Eighth Session of the Conference of Parties (COP-8), held in New Delhi, India to negotiate implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Newark, DE: Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware.

Nature is reacting to the activities of modern society in unique and largely unexpected ways. The spread of acidified rain to every continent, a worldwide decline of forested lands, and the ubiquitous presence of persistent organic pollutants due to industrial

b As the World Summit on Sustainable Development approaches, it is timely to assess our actions on behalf of a more ecologically viable world and the barriers that remain to our realization of this goal. Globalization and sustainable development have emerged as key discourses to evaluate our social and environmental prospects. On the critical issue...

Contemporary usage of the term ‘environmental justice’ arose from resistance movements organized to expose the socially unequal environmental risks and effects of industrialization. While ‘at-risk ’ communities had

Climate change presents a fundamental challenge to the current global energy regime. Under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international community is developing the architecture of a policy response. Three serious flaws are examined: (a) the potential sacrifice of small island states, (b) the use of market-based policy measures to c...

A Position Paper prepared for the Sixth Session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties The Hague, Netherlands

Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are becoming increasingly popular by assuming the role of passenger care in urban transport. Many characteristics of the SUV are unsuited to the urban transport task and have higher environmental costs than passenger cars. Marketing of SUVs has focused on their off road used and relationship with the great outdoors. Th...

The atmosphere is being transformed from a commons, where it is available for all in perpetuity, to a commodity whose usefulness for storing waste is to be allocated and traded among nations. Three groups are playing major roles in the debate over this transformation: science, business, and governments. Their participation in and impact on these gl...

In forming the international regime on climate change, commodification of the atmosphere has become the primary mechanism around which policy formulation is being organized. This has been an outcome of the dominance of anthropocentric and ethnocentric values in the discourse represented by the negotiations around the Framework Convention on Climate...

Abstract To date, climate change policy has largely focused on the problem of designing

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Delaware, 2004. Principal faculty advisor: John Byrne, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy. (Ph. D.)--University of Delaware, 2004. Includes bibliographical references:(leaves 496-535). Microfilm. s