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Social Transformation: The Real Adaptive Challenge
Abstract
This book presents a new perspective on adaptation to climate change. It considers climate change as more than a problem that can be addressed solely through technical expertise. Instead, it approaches climate change as an adaptive challenge that is fundamentally linked to beliefs, values and worldviews, as well as to power, politics, identities and interests. Drawing on case studies from high-income countries, the book argues that it is time to consider adaptation to climate change as a challenge of social, personal and political transformations. The authors represent a variety of fields and perspectives, illustrating the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to the problem. The book will be of interest to researchers, policy makers and advanced students in the environmental sciences, social sciences and humanities, as well as to decision makers and practitioners interested in new ideas about adapting to climate change.
... To stave off an unmitigated calamity, modern humanity must learn to collaborate toward planetary sustainability; otherwise, the world as we know it is likely destined to collapse (Diamond, 2011). Perhaps the greatest threat can be summed up in the adaptive challenge to climate change (Obrien & Selboe, 2015b); that is, the inability of most humans to understand their part of the responsibility for these challenges. Hence, this doctoral research focused on organizations and leaders positioned to influence policy and strategy and, consequently, individual and group development. ...
... Even more ironic, exponential growth in fragmented knowledge, and its application through technology, will not be enough to change the course that has been set, as overcoming blindness to our own systemic complicity is the main barrier for social transformation (Nicolescu, 2014a;Obrien & Selboe, 2015b). Without the benefit of integrated, transdisciplinary knowledge, these paradigmatic blinders will stay in place. ...
... Indeed, successful navigation of this path, in hindsight, will likely have marked the collective evolution of our species. This is because in order to come to a state of planetary cooperation, humankind must first overcome its adaptive challenge to climate change (Obrien & Selboe, 2015a, 2015b, which represents the collective inability currently of most humans to come to terms with the situation and their individual role in it. The goal of this study was to gain insights into postformal Next-stage Organizations and their Founder/CEOs who are addressing these challenges, both in what they do and in how they do it. ...
This study provides a heretofore absent methodological foundation and method for researching Next-Stage Organizations and the correlation between adult and organizational development. The research question related to the effectiveness of the method in ascertaining how a Founder/CEO's development informs that of an organization. The larger context was the adaptive challenges of recognizing humanities role in the unprecedented damage wreaked on planet Earth, focusing on organizations and leaders poised to influence policy and strategy and, consequently, individual and group development.
This qualitative study employed an embedded, multiple-case study design recruiting 3 participants from the sample of CEO's in Laloux's (2014) Reinventing Organizations. Data were gathered from organizational websites, interviews with each participant, and sentence completion data from O'Fallon's STAGES assessment of each participant, and sorted and analyzed using a unique combination of Nicolescuian transdisciplinarity, integral methodological pluralism, Banathy's three lenses, and O'Fallon's STAGES theory.
The findings placed 2 participants and their associated organizations at 4.0, and one at 5.5 with the associated organization at 4.5. Pattern matching showed an alignment with McCauley, Drath, Palus, O’Connor, and Baker (2006) propositions of adult development. Further analysis generated a case-inspired Next-Stage organizational profile using thematic codes. Organizational data showed similar distributions of scores and themes to the 3 participants, implying a direct relationship between the Founder/CEO development and systems of belief and those of the organization. Results further corroborated Laloux’s (2014) assertion that his research is a composite representation of an organization operating at the 4.5 level. A graphic synthesis of Nicolescuian transdisciplinarity, Integral Methodological Pluralism, Banathy’s 3 lenses, and Laloux’s 3 breakthroughs is offered as a unique contribution of this research.
This study highlighted the importance of how postformal/postconvential individuals and organizations navigate the postnormal reality, VUCA conditions, and wicked problems of the Anthropocene. Answering these challenges implies a possible path of global collaboration with the potential to lead toward a regenerative planetary populace educated as symbiotic stewards of our planet (Wahl, 2006). Although this research marks a step toward identifying organizations on the cutting edge, much more research needs to be done to ensure the survival and collective evolution of our species.
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... Climate change adaptation leadership occurs within a problem context that involves uncertainty (Millly et al., 2008;Levin et al., 2012) and requires practical, skillful engagement (Eyzaguirre and Warren, 2014;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015b). Climate adaptation governance is an emerging field (Keskitalo, 2010a) with multi-level governance challenges (Hooghe and Marks, 2001). ...
... Visualization, indicators or similar metrics and related technology applications (Perez and Yohe, 2005) provide tools to facilitate visioning and meaning-making Podolny et al., 2010) necessary to bridge knowledge and action . Stakeholder engagement acumen (O'Brien and Selboe, 2015b) creates the potential to create a sense of communityship (Mintzberg, 2015). Project management skill and an understanding of policy/legislation processes provide the glue for sustaining strategic decision-making (Hallegate, 2009). ...
... Power, the ability to use authority and influence, is not so difficult to situate once those who develop the skill to practically use contextual intelligence are identified (Nye, 2010). An understanding of climate change adaptation barriers and limits (Adger et al., 2009) can advance more rigorous and successful climate adaptation practices that underscore the importance of leadership and skillful engagement (O'Brien and Selboe, 2015b). Tailoring of leadership style to the different stages of the adaptation process is increasingly seen as important . ...
Evidence-based insights on leadership practice are needed to support climate change adaptation. Climate change adaptation leadership is systematically investigated in Canada using a regional case study approach involving seven nested case examples. Informant interviews, documentary analysis, participant observation, and site visits in the Atlantic Region of Canada are used to examine specific leadership interventions across a continuum of styles and approaches. These leadership interventions are examined through the lens of complexity leadership theory (CLT), transdisciplinary collaborative leadership and innovation typing, and in view of their implications for climate change adaptation practice.
Research findings show that climate change adaptation leadership is a fluid process, operating over a continuum of leadership styles and functions, which embraces context complexity. Four particular leadership styles are identified. These include shared, distributed (instigators), distributed/supportive (mobilizers), and supportive (extension agents). Key features of successful adaptation leadership and practice include: the development and use of contextual intelligence, the creation of dual or co-leadership alliances, an expanded understanding of the role of champions, and the more explicit structuring of collaborative innovation networks. In addition, leadership challenges can be addressed through focusing early on in identifying and addressing barriers to adaptation. Findings from the Atlantic Region of Canada are used to develop an initial inventory of technical and behavioural leadership competencies. These competencies include collaboration. power sharing, bridging science for results, and project management. Finally, the thesis develops an archetype climate change adaptation leader as one who acts individually, or as part of broader work teams, organizations or innovation networks to effect change. As a leader, they obtain varied multi-level governance experience, understand that to enhance collaboration it is important to understand the interrelationship of leadership, followership and context, and that their role might shift over time in dealing with adaptation challenges. An archetype leader understands the process of innovation and can apply various types of innovation to craft integrated adaptation solutions. In addition, an archetype climate change adaptation leader views professional development as an apprenticeship, and embrace the roles of both mentor and protégé.
A number of questions for further study include: how can the literature on the role of women and leadership be used to inform climate change adaptation; what factors influence the complexity of interactions between bureaucratic levels within organizations to either enhance or reduce bureaucratic fault lines; how intergenerational tension in different climate change adaptation leadership contexts can be understood and addressed; do situations involving the destruction of climate change adaptation leadership create structural limits for adaptation; how can the concept of contextual intelligence be more fully articulated as a climate change adaptation leadership competency; and can specific cases of climate change adaptation leadership in collaborative innovation networks be examined to further develop best practices? Two additional questions for further study relate to professional development within climate change adaptation leadership: how can succession planning and mentoring be best integrated into practice to create the archetype as developed in this thesis; and what is the potential role for a climate change adaptation leadership apprenticeship model?
... When looking at these two educational approaches through a critical lens, there may be an argument to say that the "learn from and practise this" approach may raise important considerations around ethics (Bateson, 2022;O'Brien & Selboe, 2015). Therefore, it is recommended education providers undertake assessments of their own programs, to ensure that they are as ethical as possible. ...
... From a critical perspective, there may be an argument to say that while these mindset policy recommendations and institutionalisations are likely well-intentioned, they may raise important ethical considerations (Bateson, 2022;O'Brien & Selboe, 2015). It also raises important questions around how mindset education can be offered in more ethical ways. ...
Around the world today, there are many learning opportunities to study mindset in a range of ways and contexts. In this paper, I share and review my experience of some of these learning opportunities as a researcher and practitioner in the mindset field. I also offer five recommendations for education providers and learners to consider as part of designing future mindset learning opportunities. You are invited to reflect upon your mindset education, and/or upon the way you a teaching mindset, and consider if it’s possible to broaden, deepen, and diversify your experience and/or approach.
... Inner/subjective aspects, which to date have been less studied, include issues such as emotions, values, beliefs and worldviews, which in turn translate in different risk perceptions and actions (Enander, 2010;O'Brien and Hochachka, 2011;Wall, 2011). While many applications exist, here we understand emotions as affective reactions or relationships (Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015;Shouse, 2005;Slovic et al., 2004), values as what is intrinsically desirable for individuals or society (O'Brien, 2009;O'Brien and Wolf, 2010; see also Stern et al., 1999), beliefs as what people hold for 'true' about an object or issue (cf. Kollmuss and Agyeman, 2002), and worldviews as systems of values and beliefs that justify certain decision-making and (social) behaviour (Dake, 1992;O'Brien, 2009). ...
... It presents important findings that can be used to guide future research and develop policy that supports citizen engagement in climate adaptation. Moreover, it provides insights regarding recent calls from adaptation scholars to give more consideration to subjective, inner dimensions of adaptation, which have hitherto been widely ignored in research and practice (e.g., O'Brien and Selboe, 2015;Wamsler, 2018;. The study also responds to the need identified in the latest IPCC Assessment Report (Working Group III) to address behavioural change in order to accelerate social transformation (IPCC, 2014;Stern et al., 2016). ...
Local governments’ limited mandate and capacity to adequately deal with increasing climate risk and impacts means that citizen engagement is becoming increasingly important for adapting to hazards such as floods and storms. Stronger collaborative approaches are urgently needed. At the same time, there is little research and hardly any empirical evidence on what inspires adaptation engagement in different citizen groups. Against this background, this paper examines the external/ material (e.g., resources, hazards, public support) and internal aspects (e.g., values and worldviews) that shape people’s engagement in and for adaptation. Based on a survey of Swedish citizens at risk from severe climate events, we show that engagement is a gendered process, which is mediated by personal values, worldviews and place—aspects rarely considered in public adaptation. While a high level of diverse citizen action is often related to past experiences of hazards, motivation to adapt goes beyond the idea of acting out of rational self-interest. Economic considerations (e.g., low cost) are not the only motivation to adapt; the potential of an adaptation action to contribute to green, thriving surroundings and mitigate global climate change was found nearly as (and among female respondents, more) motivating. Women were also found to be more motivated to engage in adaptation if this supports other community members at risk. At the same time, past adaptation action could not be linked to motivation to adapt, and was found to be negatively correlated with communitarian and ecological values or worldviews. This confirms that motivation to adapt does not automatically translate into action, and indicates a ‘mitigation–adaptation gap’ in people’s climate awareness, which can lead to ineffective climate responses. Given these findings, we discuss alternative approaches to support increased citizen engagement and more effective and transformative climate action. We end with a call for public adaptation and risk communication that takes greater account of inner/ subjective dimensions.
... One risk is that climate change and other environmental issues end up as merely pollution problems to be regulated and managed, for example, through energy policies, green technologies, "smart" cities, and climate capitalism (Newell and Paterson 2010). A dutiful approach seldom disrupts the underlying causes of climate change, including the economic and development paradigms or models that are responsible for the climate change in the first place (Hayward 2012, Pelling et al. 2012, Klein 2014, Eriksen et al. 2015, O'Brien and Selboe 2015b. Furthermore, although such actions may reflect or foster an important sense of responsibility for others, deeper structural issues and political power imbalances are seldom challenged through dutiful dissent. ...
... Politicizing climate change through a critique of the status quo can open up spaces for new actors, but it may also contribute to an antagonistic and polarizing discourse that can limit mobilization and inhibit new visions and alternatives for the future Lievens 2014, O'Brien andSelboe 2015b). This was the case of the political movement Climate Justice Action (CJA) and its struggle to challenge the postpolitical and consensual debate on climate change. ...
The policies and decisions made today will influence climate and sustainability outcomes for the remainder of this century and beyond, and youth today have a large stake in this future. Many youth are expressing dissent toward economic, social, and environmental policies and practices that contribute to climate change in diverse ways, but clearly not all forms of climate activism have the same impact or repercussions. We have presented a typology for understanding youth dissent as expressed through climate activism. Recognizing the complex empirical reality of youth concerns about climate change, this typology has distinguished three types of activism as dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. By drawing attention to multiple ways for youth to express their political agency both within and outside of traditional political processes, we have highlighted and analyzed the diverse ways that youth are challenging power relationships and political interests to promote climate-resilient futures.
... As used in this thesis, transformation refers to a deliberate (yet not fully steerable) change in a normative direction (Feola, 2014). Related scholarship stresses that adaptation to climate change will have little long-term effect if it is treated only as a technical or managerial problem (O'Brien and Selboe, 2015). ...
... In this context, scholars emphasise the potential of linking adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development by giving a central role in urban planning to ecological values and to EbA Roberts et al., 2012). Likewise, individuals and civil society are framed as 'action spaces' for transformation, for instance, by contributing to innovation in established institutions through informal experimentation, and for holding the values, beliefs and worldviews that shape openness to change and learning (Frantzeskaki et al., 2017;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015;Schicklinski, 2015). However, empirical investigation into approaches that produce transformational, rather than incremental, adaptation is scarce (see e.g., Few et al., 2017), and scholars have called for more "precision in identifying the conceptual borders of what transformation means in different studies" (Feola, 2014, p. 10). ...
Even if current attempts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions would succeed, society-wide adjustment to the harmful effects of climate change is urgently needed. This process is known as climate adaptation. Cities face particular risks from climate change, and there is increasing evidence that traditional approaches, which have often relied on technical solutions and top-down management structures, will not be enough. However, little is known about how new approaches and emerging actors are integrated into and exert influence in urban adaptation governance. In particular, there is a lack of research on citizens’ role in adaptation in the Global North.
This thesis investigates the role and potential of two approaches – ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) and citizen engagement in adaptation – in reducing risk from adverse climate events at the local level. I do this by using an interdisciplinary and mixed methods approach, which entails reviewing scientific evidence from urban case studies worldwide, and empirically examining adaptation processes in south-Swedish municipalities. In particular, I examine how and on what basis EbA is applied in cities; how and for what reasons Swedish citizens engage in adaptation; and the implications of, and synergies between, the two approaches in local adaptation governance.
The results show that although, in the main, EbA and citizen engagement have not occurred in explicit and deliberate ways, they can support municipal adaptation and address underlying risk drivers. On one hand, there are growing experiences with urban EbA in both the global and Swedish contexts. These are implemented under a variety of terms (e.g., ecosystem services, green infrastructure) and often lack a strategic, long-term climate risk perspective, such as assessment of current and projected future risks and vulnerabilities. On the other hand, citizens’ engagement in adaptation – alone, together, and in interaction with municipalities – has had significant outcomes for local adaptation, but their efforts are poorly supported and/or channelled by municipalities. Citizens’ personal experience of hazards is a strong driver of action; however, factors such as ecological values and identification with place also play a role. At the municipal level, the identified modes of citizen engagement are diverse, comprising collaboration (two-way dialogue), contestation (challenge and confrontation), compliance (enforcing mandatory citizen action) and choice (stimulating voluntary citizen action) – all of which were found to shape local adaptation. In addition, I reveal how responsibility for adaptation is shifting to citizens without any change in laws or policy, which risks hitting hardest against those most at risk. Finally, I also identify synergies between the two approaches, and suggest that EbA may serve as a better entry point for citizen engagement in adaptation than technical measures.
Beyond the empirical insights about municipal adaptation processes in Sweden, this thesis makes three essential contributions: (1) it synthesises and assesses the field of urban EbA and identifies key research gaps; (2) it furthers theory on citizen engagement in local adaptation and presents an analytical framework for citizen–municipality ‘adaptation interactions’; and (3) it contributes to the academic discussion on how transformational, rather than incremental, climate adaptation may look in practice.
... Just and transformational adaptation, then, demands a policy process conducted in such a way that allows for the recognition and representation of the values, interests, and reflections of community members and stakeholders who are impacted by climate change. The development of a 'reflexive engagement' in adaptation planning (O'Brien and Selboe 2015) is key to a process that moves beyond resilient infrastructure, and incorporates social vulnerability, human security, and just transformation. Such institutionalized reflexive engagement can address the vulnerability of basic capabilities and political rights while bringing in a variety of understandings and values regarding the impacts of climate change in local communities. ...
... So, we find not only a shift from an incremental risk-based approach to a more vulnerability and justice-based one, but also evidence for more support in the public sphere for more transformational responses. Citizen engagement, then, as suggested in much of the adaptation literature as necessary for procedural justice (for example, Palutikof 2015, O'Brien andSelboe 2015), helps address a range of vulnerabilities, different conceptions of potential loss, a broad set of capabilities, and the potential for broad social and economic transformation. It is, in other words and as demonstrated, a necessary component of a process and goal of just adaptation. ...
How can public engagement assist in the development of just processes and outcomes in adaptation discourse and policymaking? A concern with justice is at the center of thinking about adaptation that is not only resilient, but also public, engaging, and transformative. Theoretically, the intersection of adaptation, transformation, and environmental and climate justice is examined, before exploring the specific concerns and normative foundations for adaptation policy articulated by local governments, environmental groups, and local residents engaged in adaptation planning in Australia. Despite a discursive disconnect between governmental focus on a risk or resilience-based approach and a community concern with the vulnerability of basic needs and capabilities of everyday life, deliberative engagement in adaptation planning can both address issues of justice and represent a transformative practice.
... The first feature of the field is in relation to what each of today's contemporary mindset communities means when they use the term mindset, along with the different kinds of theories, typologies, and education opportunities they offer. I have collated a broad spectrum of mindset definitions, and I have acknowledged some of them on the field map (e.g., Crum & Langer, 2007;Dweck, 2006;Fisher, 1988;FrameWorks Institute, 2020;Gollwitzer & Kinney, 1989;Gupta & Govindarajan, 2002;IDEO, 2015;Kegan & Lahey, 2009;Langer, 1989;McKercher, 2020;McEwen & Schmidt, 2007;Meadows, 1999;O'Brien & Selboe, 2015;Rhinesmith, 1992;Wamsler & Bristow, 2022;Young, 2020). At the same time, this list of references only represents a small sample of the many mindset definitions that exist in the field. ...
This paper presents a "field map" of the field of mindset, that includes an overview of some of today's contemporary communities, a range of lineages and traditions these communities are connected to, and several voices that speak to the emerging future for mindset psychology and practice. This field map is being offered to help readers develop a broad and diverse view of the collective wisdom that exists in the mindset field.
... The first feature of the field is in relation to what each of today's contemporary mindset communities means when they use the term mindset, along with the different kinds of theories, typologies, and education opportunities they offer. I have collated a broad spectrum of mindset definitions, and I have acknowledged some of them on the field map (e.g., Bristow et al, 2024;Crum & Langer, 2007;Dweck, 2006;Fisher, 1988;FrameWorks Institute, 2020;Gollwitzer & Kinney, 1989;Gupta & Govindarajan, 2002;IDEO, 2015;Kegan & Lahey, 2009;Langer, 1989;McKercher, 2020;McEwen & Schmidt, 2007;Meadows, 1999;O'Brien & Selboe, 2015;Rhinesmith, 1992;Wamsler & Bristow, 2022;Young, 2020). At the same time, this list of references only represents a small sample of the many mindset definitions that exist in the field. ...
This paper presents a “field map” of the field of mindset, that includes an overview of some of its contemporary communities, a range of lineages and traditions these communities are connected to, and several voices that speak to the emerging future for mindset psychology and practice. This field map is being offered to help readers move beyond a silo view of a single perspective within the mindset field, and to develop a systems view that acknowledges the collective wisdom that exists in the field as a whole.
... At the same time, while some people might be excited by the possibility of embracing new paradigms, there will also be people who don't want to change, and who don't like the idea of unattaching from the familiar beliefs and assumptions of dominant paradigms (Wheatley, 2002). It is also not ethical to force anyone to move through an ongoing process of paradigms shifts (O'Brien & Selboe, 2015). So, ultimately, the choice to open yourself up to the possibility of new paradigms, comes down to you, and your desire to learn, and contribute to the evolution of the mindset field. ...
An aspect of the mindset field that is not often acknowledged, yet it can exert a strong influence over how people come to understand mindset, is the potential existence of dominant paradigms. This paper examines the nature of dominant paradigms, and offers seven indicators to help readers self-assess if they have been conditioned by one. You are invited to discern if you have been conditioned by a dominant paradigm, and determine if there is an opportunity for you to embrace new paradigms of understanding and practice.
... In other cases, certain mindset types appear to have become institutionalised or banned in schools, organisations, and training programs, and people don't have much of a choice but to learn or unlearn those mindset types (e.g., Wicks, 2001). From a critical perspective, there may be an argument to say that while most of these proposed approaches to mindset type adoption are well-intentioned, they may also raise important ethical considerations (Bateson, 2022;O'Brien & Selboe, 2015). Future work could look at examining the ethics of such approaches. ...
A mindset type refers to the classification of a specific type of mindset. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigates all of the different mindset types that have been named throughout history in the title of scholarly publications. It was found that 1,882 different mindset types have been named, with a small number of those types becoming quite dominant in the field. It was also found mindset types seldom acknowledge the existence of one another, and they also seldom study how all mindset types are interrelated. It is recommended everyone in the field of mindset works together to break down scholarly silos, and widens their circle of acknowledgement, so they can embrace a diverse and comprehensive view of mindset theory that is inclusive of all mindset types.
... A third aim discusses the neglect of the interrelationship between gender equality in education, Indigenous knowledges, and climate change, arguing this is a question of justice (Lagi 2015;Vunibola and Leweniqila 2021). Our understanding of climate justice draws on work in the academic-activist sphere (Newell et al. 2021;Waldron et al. 2019;O'Brien and Selboe 2015), which argues that the climate crisis is inherently connected to other crises of power, including racialised (Williams 2021), Indigenous (Byskov and Hyams 2022) and gendered (Parr 2021) injustices. Any and all proposed 'solutions' therefore need to take connected, pluralistic approaches to these crises, without instrumentalising, essentialising, or further marginalising Indigenous knowledges and practices, to be both just and successful (Deranger et al. 2022;Lagi 2015;MacNeill 2020). ...
This paper takes inspiration from the Indigenous Fijian practice of ‘curui’ – weaving or patching together – as a metaphor to explore connections between climate justice, gender equality, and education in Fijian policies and practices. The paper argues that neither gender equality nor education can be ‘silver bullets’ for the huge challenges that the climate crisis raises, particularly for small island developing states (SIDS) such as Fiji that exist at the sharp end of the crisis. The paper contributes close analysis of Fijian national climate change policies and development plans from 2010, identifying the ways in which these policies frame and discuss the connections between climate, gender, and education, and asking whether these policies acknowledge traditional ecological knowledges, and the extent to which they are aligned with notions of justice. It argues that connected approaches to education, centred in Indigenous knowledges and ontologies, have thus far been insufficiently included in Fiji’s policies.
... "Only an approach to adaptation that moves beyond a sole focus on the biophysical risks of climate change, to one that considers the larger and more complex processes that interact and produce vulnerability, can address social, environmental, and climate injustice." (O'Brien and Selboe (2015) cited by R. Wolstenholme, presentation during the Expert meeting, May 2021) ...
Climate change impacts affect people in different ways and some members of society will find it more demanding to adapt their living and working conditions and their livelihood to changing climate conditions. Managing climate change adaptation and transition to a climate resilient society in a just and inclusive manner requires awareness about which conditions generate injustice with burdens from climate impacts shared and costs and benefits from adaptation measures distributed in a fair and equitable way.
The present technical paper provides an overview of knowledge and practice for just resilience in Europe as a scoping exercise based on a rapid review of scientific literature on social impacts of adaptation and resilience, information from National Reference Centres, input from the Expert Group on Just Resilience, established for this analysis, information from regulatory reports on national adaptation progress and a screening of the Climate-ADAPT database. The context of the technical paper is European policy developments, notably the EU Green Deal and the revised EU Adaptation strategy, which stresses the importance of achieving resilience in a just and fair way in order for adaptation benefits to be shared equitably. For purposes of clarity, the technical paper uses the step-wise approach proposed by the EU Adaptation policy guidance framework – the Adaptation Support Tool - for exploring current knowledge and practice. The technical paper concludes with barriers and enabling conditions for just resilience, actionable recommendations for policy-makers, adaptation planners and practitioners and identifies a number of knowledge gaps and directions for future research.
... In order to achieve a social transformation toward a sustainable future, anthropogenic CC and its consequences require a powerful educational response [17][18][19][20][21]27,36]. Young people have to be empowered to address challenges like CC and to actively shape their lifeworld as responsible citizens. ...
Die Forschungs-Bildungs-Kooperation k.i.d.Z.21 fördert die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Schülerinnen und Schülern und (wissenschaftlichen) Expertinnen und Experten in (außer-)schulischen Lernsettings zum Thema Klimawandel. k.i.d.Z.21 trägt zur Stärkung von Faktoren bei, die klimafreundliches Handeln fördern, und begünstigt gegenseitiges Lernen. Dies wird anhand quantitativer und qualitativer Forschungsergebnisse dargelegt.
... Despite a long-standing acknowledgment of the need to give students more agency in their own education, few universities have gone far beyond giving lip service to this ideal (e.g., Astin, 1999Astin, /1984Manning et al., 2013) 8 . Many continue to argue that the impact of sustainability education and research does not go far enough, has too little impact, likely because it does not address the most consequential leverage points, i.e., the deepest drivers of societal behavior, namely its worldviews, belief systems, paradigms, and values (e.g., Burns, 2012;O'Brien, 2013O'Brien, , 2016O'Brien et al., 2013;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015;Bai et al., 2016;Abson et al., 2017;Albrecht, 2020). ...
Universities are one potentially important place – albeit not the only one – to initiate the next generation into becoming the adult humans needed to navigate the difficult future of the Anthropocene. The University of the future will fail this mission, if it only prepared young people in the technical expertise required to manage accelerating climate crises and the breakdown of Earth's life support and interlocking human systems. The depth and extent of transformation that awaits society requires people skilled in coping emotionally and in effectively engaging the plethora of challenges ahead with agility, creativity, resolve, vision, and integrity. It requires universities themselves to transform into institutions of human development that cease to participate, pardon and propagate patterns of exploitation and, instead, become singularly dedicated to restoring and regenerating the conditions for life. This paper articulates a vision of a radically different future “University.” Building on others' calls for transformation-supporting education, we frame universities' role in the larger arc of inner and outer human and societal development. We spell out some of the implications and needs such a shift would entail. The paper is written in the spirit of the future University that we envision: not just from our analytical thinking brain, but drawing also on our imaginative/intuitive, emotional, and sensing/embodied ways of knowing. As such, it breaks with conventional academic writing and opens up wider possibilities for and commitment to life-affirming and restorative action.
... Environmental-effectiveness is here adopted in the spirit of 'good gardeners' who seek cooperation with nature and are guided by the question: what do we want to grow? [2] However, besides structural or operational redesign, answering this question needs to be embedded in social transformation [4]. Environmental-effectiveness therefore also relies upon social science's ability to 'translate findings from the physical sciences and engineering into frames and languages that are accessible to social actors'. ...
This article analyses the core values of the largest European family-owned companies and cross-references them to their CO2 emissions and energy consumption reports. It does so by following the findings from environmental psychology, which indicate that self-transcending values lead to better pro-environmental behavior. Additionally, it expands the premises from earlier studies of environmentalism in family business research, which point out family-owned companies' higher tendency to go beyond environmental compliance practices. Following the results, gathered from various indicators associated with pro-environmental behavior, the analysis of different positions within the environmentalities framework is conducted. It determines the companies' stance regarding the Green Deal for Europe's governance and introduces the discussion of the benefits of incentivizing competition over compliance and promoting environmental over sustainability strategy.
... In order to achieve a social transformation toward a sustainable future, anthropogenic CC and its consequences require a powerful educational response [17][18][19][20][21]27,36]. Young people have to be empowered to address challenges like CC and to actively shape their lifeworld as responsible citizens. ...
This article looks at transdisciplinary research and discusses the possibilities of translating this concept into a new type of education, which we will call Transdisciplinary Education. Following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the community of states, there has been increased international recognition of education as being a key driver for sustainable development. Considering the global grand challenges of the 21st century, the integration of Education for Sustainable Development at all school levels ought to be prioritized in order to empower young people to contribute to sustainable development. Collaborating with out-of-school partners and doing research on real-world problems within their lifeworld, help students develop the competences necessary for responsible citizenship, while at the same time contributing to community well-being. Both concepts transdisciplinary research and Transdisciplinary Education acknowledge the responsibility of addressing social relevant problems and the significant role of those who are and who will be affected by these challenges. The project Science Education for Action and Engagement Towards Sustainability (SEAS) aims at analyzing different partnerships between schools and out-of-school institutions in European countries. By comparing the collaborative formats and providing a concept and method pool for educators, SEAS targets facilitating the integration of Transdisciplinary Education in formal schooling in the future. This article gives insights into the Austrian research-education collaboration k.i.d.Z.21. Drawing on experiences of k.i.d.Z.21 and taking up characteristics of transdisciplinary research, opportunities and challenges of integrating Transdisciplinary Education in formal schooling are discussed.
... One string of the transformation literature focuses on the potential gains, opportunities, co-benefits and 'the good life' that may result from deliberate transformation processes that address vulnerabilities and inequalities through a shift towards a desirable future (O'Brien, 2012;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015;Pelling, 2011). The literature also focuses on the abilities and possibilities of steering towards a future that is more ecologically sustainable (e.g. ...
The concept of green transformation is burgeoning in the academic literature and policy discourses, yet few empirical studies investigate what the concept actually means to diverse actors, and how it manifests in practices. This paper contributes to filling that gap. Through an analysis of policy documents and interviews, we investigate how central policy actors and interest organisations in Norwegian farming, fisheries and aquaculture conceptualise and enact transformation. The analysis of the policy documents shows that the concept ‘transformation’ is mentioned more frequently, and a rhetoric with close connotations to green growth is increasingly applied, which may leave the impression that there is consensus concerning what the concept means and entails. The interviews however leave a more nuanced picture. Among most of the actors, transformation is interpreted in terms of green growth, while a minority of the actors argue for a deeper sustainability, pointing to planetary limits. Clearly, what transformation is and what it entails is embedded in interpretive flexibility. The concept ‘transformation’ is plastic enough to be applied in several different, and partly conflicting, policy discourses and arenas. We argue that transformation can be understood as a boundary object, and different actors perform different sorts of boundary work to adapt the boundary object of ‘transformation’ to fit their agendas. Thus, it makes more sense to think of transformation in plural – transformations – instead of a single, consensual discourse. We find that the very practices of most of the actors are not transformative in the theoretical understanding of the concept and that inadequate attention is given to potential negative sides of transformation. Consequently, both scholarly and practical discussions on how to achieve transformation should take into account that different and (partly) conflicting interpretations will continue to exist and contribute to distinguish between different degrees of sustainability and related pathways.
... Despite the rising urgency of societal challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, social inequality, and economic instability, status quo oriented socio-economic development continues largely unaltered and incremental policy changes predominate [1][2][3][4]. While recent growth in grassroots movements are becoming harder to ignore, calls for more fundamental change can increasingly be heard also from mainstream institutions like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [5], and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) [6,7]. ...
This article empirically applies, tests, and refines a conceptual framework that articulates three dimensions of transformative impact and transformative capacity: depth, width, and length. This responds to the need for a more precise conceptual language to describe these terms and operationalize them in a way that is useful for practitioners in social innovation networks. By applying this framework in diverse cases of social innovation networks, we demonstrate how the framework can serve to identify and assess transformative impacts and the capacities needed to bring about these impacts. Our findings include 1. empirical substantiations, 2. refinements, and 3. interaction effects among the elements of the framework. We also subjected the framework to an appraisal by practitioners in social innovation networks regarding the recognizability of the framework elements and usefulness for practice. The framework was generally perceived as very meaningful and valuable for social innovation practitioners as a way to understand, assess, strategically design and evaluate their transformation efforts. Drawing on feedback by practitioners, we offer recommendations for further research and development of the framework to improve its usefulness in practice.
... Although there is recognition that there will be both winners and losers in transformation processes, little attention has been paid to how this links to the global political economy and transparency surrounding the question of 'who decides' on the solutions to be prioritised (Swyngedouw, 2010;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015b). Studies of equity, ethics, social justice, governmentality, deliberate democracy and other social science research can make important contributions to understanding the political dynamics of transformations in socio-ecological systems. ...
'Perspectives on transitions to sustainability' presents a variety of analytical perspectives on systemic change, exploring what insights they collectively offer for policy, governance and knowledge creation. The report includes five academic papers drafted by internationally recognised experts in the field of sustainability transitions. For each of the five perspectives, the papers explore the conceptual background and understanding of how systemic changes occur, presenting their strengths and weaknesses and their implications for governance.
From their contrasting analytical approaches, the five papers offer shared insights into how transitions could be achieved. While emphasising that governments alone cannot start and steer transitions, they highlight the essential role of policy and public institutions in supporting local experimentation and learning, upscaling and reconfiguration. Governments also have a key role to play in supporting networking of local initiatives and in creating the shared goals and frameworks that can help coordinate and steer society-wide processes towards long-term sustainability goals.
... Power also influences the distribution of costs and benefits and the extent to which change happens. In fact, in response to perceived and anticipated risks and opportunities, the who, what, when, and where of adaptation are forged through dynamic power relations (O'Brien & Selboe, 2015). ...
Power mechanisms and structures shape climate change adaptation outcomes, the measures adopted, and who is identified as requiring adaptation support. But to what extent does research recognize such power‐adaptation linkages? Based on a systematic literature review, we enquire if and how the framing of power matters for adaptation research and what the implications may be for practice. Our enquiry is predicated on the relationship between the researcher and the research focus being itself a relationship of power. Since power is complex and a single definition is not desirable, different actor‐orientated frames of power were used for the data analysis. The results show that authors are more likely to work with issues of power to (i.e., agency), power over, and empowerment, rather than resistance or disempowerment. Demonstrating the effect of such frames, these proportions change according to whether the research focuses on equity, effectiveness, or participation. For instance, power to is strongly associated with effectiveness, while disempowerment is associated more with equity. Together with other identified patterns, our review shows that researchers frame power in adaptation in ways that constitute biases and blind spots. Attention to particular frames of power can limit attention to important dynamics within adaptation processes. Both the content and context to which the identified frames are applied suggest structural trends in adaptation research that require increased attention. Since researchers' frames of power influence both research outcomes and broader adaptation‐power relations, the results indicate that reflexivity is needed to improve both adaptation research and practice.
This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Institutions for Adaptation
... Climate change and local ecologies interrelate to shape vulnerabilities for marginalised groups. Such contexts place demands on both research and practice [58][59][60][61][62]. ...
Climate change vulnerability and social marginalisation are often interrelated in and through environments. Variations in climate change adaptation practice and research account for such social-ecological relations to varying degrees. Advocates of ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation (EbA) claim that it delivers social co-benefits to marginalised groups, although scant empirical evidence supports such claims. I investigate these claims in two EbA interventions in Sri Lanka, interpreting social benefits through an empowerment lens. I use qualitative methods such as focus groups and narrative interviews to study the conduct and context of the interventions. In both cases, marginalised people’s own empowered adaptive strategies reflect how power relations and vulnerabilities relate to dynamic ecologies. The findings show that EbA enabled social benefits for marginalised groups, especially through support to common-pool resource management institutions and the gendered practices of home gardens. Such conduct was embedded within, but mostly peripheral to, broader and deeper contestations of power. Nevertheless, projects acted as platforms for renegotiating these power relations, including through acts of resistance. The results call for greater recognition of the ways that marginalised groups relate to ecology within empowered adaptive strategies, whilst also highlighting the need to recognise the diverse interests and power relations that cut across the conduct and contexts of these nominally ecosystem-based interventions.
... When it comes to climate change, critics have claimed that adaptation cannot be socially and environmentally sustainable without fundamental societal transformations (e.g. Eriksen et al., 2011;O'Brien & Selboe, 2015). The adjustment-based adaptation concept currently dominates scientific discourse, although a shift has occurred towards a reformist point of view, which can be observed e.g. when looking at the adaptation models presented in the IPCC reports (Basset & Fogelman, 2013). ...
In light of the relatively modest achievements of international climate change governance, high hopes are being placed on global city networks as an essential solution to problems in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, in particular, promotes itself as a network that enables cities to learn from each other in their efforts to confront climate change. Very little is known, however, about what kind of change the network promotes and how transformative the proposed solutions are. We assess the degree of (anticipated) change based on a stratified sample of twelve cities participating in the C40 network, signalled by adaptation and mitigation actions described in their policy documents. Our findings indicate that most proposed measures support the status quo, with the majority of actions focusing on infrastructure and technology, and only a few transformational climate measures are envisaged by the cities. © 2018
... Recognizing that the political and personal dimensions of adaptive challenges can create 'bumpy and convoluted pathways,' it becomes clear that the 1.5 C target is not limited to decarbonization strategies. The real challenge involves broader and deeper social transformations to sustainability [41]. ...
Carbon roadmaps and pathways are important for describing, planning and tracking the technical, managerial and behavioral changes that are consistent with the Paris Agreement. Nevertheless, roadmaps and pathways for decarbonization often gloss over a fundamental question: ‘How do deliberate social transformations happen?’ Often the social complexity of transformation processes is downplayed or ignored in favor of technical solutions and behavioral approaches. In this article, I explain why they are incomplete and unlikely to ‘bend the curves’ to reduce emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. I first discuss the distinction between technical and adaptive challenges and why this is relevant. I then review and describe the dynamics of social change in relation to three related and interacting ‘spheres’ of transformation: the practical, political, and personal spheres. Finally, I explore how these three spheres can be used to identify leverage points for transformations that support the 1.5°C target.
... A similar recognition is emerging around adaptation (e.g., Kates et al., 2011;New et al., 2011). In this emerging discourse on transformation, experts argue that far deeper societal changes than observed to date are necessary if society wishes to avoid the worst of projected climate changes (Brown and O'Neill Fabricius, 2013 ;Folke et al., 2010;Grin et al., 2010;Nalau and Handmer, 2015;O'Brien and Selboe, 2015;O'Brien and Sygna, 2013;Park et al., 2012;Pelling, 2011;Sharma, 2007;Kellert and Speth, 2009). ...
If it is true that humans are about to leave behind the environmental conditions we have known for the 150,000-200,000 years of our species' existence, then we are now changing the context in which we have evolved to date. This means Homo sapiens will have to co-evolve further with the climatic and environmental conditions it is creating through its planetary impact in the Anthropocene. Given the rapidity of the changes humans have set in motion, however, this next evolutionary phase may be cultural rather than biological, reflected in behaviors, practices, artifacts, institutions and underlying values and worldviews, and, therefore, psychological. Such a psycho-cultural transformation is frequently called for, but rarely explored in detail. This paper presents a model of psychological transformation from the fields of depth psychology and anthropology known as an archetypal death-rebirth process. Applied to a cultural transformation, the model offers a frame to interpret this time of unprecedented environmental and cultural endings. It gives purpose and meaning to the suffering involved in transformations and, crucially, offers hope through the vision of renewal. Its tripartite progression of severance, threshold, and reincorporation provides a map for navigating the terra quasi-incognita of this transformation that tells us what to expect and therefore how to respond. Finally, it offers an explication of how a transformation far more profound than changes in actions and policies may allow us to become the truly wise humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, our species' name denotes we could be.
... Therefore, overcoming barriers may require disruptive events to initiate change such that social values that constrain adaptation are transformed in the process (Fresque-Baxter and Armitage 2012; Klein et al. 2014;Barnett et al. 2015). However, disruptive events which are poorly managed may serve to reinforce prevailing discourses and prevent deep structural changes from occurring (Jeffers 2013a;O'Brien and Selboe 2015). Thus, the manner in which disruptive events are initiated, framed and managed is equally critical in addressing potential adaptation barriers. ...
Barriers to climate change adaptation have received increased attention in recent years as researchers and policymakers attempt to understand their complex and interdependent nature and identify strategies for overcoming them. To date however, there is a paucity of research on barriers to transformative adaptation. Using two case studies of flood risk management from Ireland we identify and characterize barriers to transformative adaptation. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders connected to proposed transformative strategies in Skibbereen, County Cork and Clontarf, County Dublin. Across both case studies, where transformative strategies failed to materialize, we highlight three significant barriers that impede transformation including: (i) social and cultural values, particularly place attachment and identity; (ii) institutional reliance on technical expertise which fails to look beyond traditional technocratic
approaches and; (iii) institutional regulatory practices. Findings illustrate that where social or institutional barriers emerge, transformation may more likely succeed through a series of incremental changes, which culminate in transformation. This research has practical implications for future adaptation planning as facilitating transformation through incrementalism requires flexible adaptation strategies that are responsive to changing social values over time. While focused on flood risk management, our findings have applicability for other sectors adapting to climate change.
If you want to grow your branches high and wide as a mindset practitioner, it is important you develop a deep system of roots in the origins and history of mindset psychology. However, opportunities to study the history of mindset tend to be few and far between. This paper presents a short history of mindset from the perspective of the many people who have explicitly used the term, alongside people who have studied similar ideas, and the fields supporting lineages and traditions. You are invited to study this history, as well as to contribute to a shared and ongoing process of making the history of mindset more visible for all to see and learn from.
Cultural sustainability relates to sustainable development. According to UNESCO “culture provides the necessary transformative dimension that ensures the sustainability of development processes.” Originally sustainable development was defined through three dimensions-ecological, economic and social dimension. Further, the social dimension has been understood in multiple ways often accentuating socio-economic assets of development rather than socio-cultural capacities. Eventually, there has been an increasing interest in defining cultural sustainability as a fourth pillar of sustainable development. While becoming aware of the contemporary supranational risks such as climate change, COVID 19-pandemia or escalating military conflicts, sustainable development can hardly be envisioned in terms of linear progress but rather considered with anticipation of eventual shocks, interruptions, and vulnerabilities related to development. In this perspective, cultural sustainability can be increasingly associated with identifying vulnerabilities and with envisioning attainable measures of adaptation. This article addresses the complex issue of defining cultural sustainability through lenses of social resilience and adaptive capacity at local level.
Russian science has long warned of adverse climate impacts (also noting some positive effects), but state policies have been lacking. By analysing key policy documents over the last 15 years, this study identifies and explains the development of an adaptation policy. Most recently, a bureaucratic process set in motion by Russia’s ratification of the Paris Agreement produced a set of policy documents addressing adaptation to negative climate impacts. These documents employed a bureaucratic-administrative approach, and the effectiveness of expected measures can be questioned. From 2020, a deeper reassessment of climate challenges has evolved, triggered by radical climate changes observed in the Russian Arctic, but also by developments in international climate policies and the energy transition. Economic adaptation to these trends has come to the forefront, raising questions of the need for structural change in the Russian economy. Opposition to reform remains strong, but the scope for discussion of possible pathways has widened considerably. Further development of low-carbon policies in Russia are contingent on international cooperation and integration of Russia in the world economy. The isolation of Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine, will make it difficult to influence Russian climate policies.
Key policy insights
• Unlike the West, Russian climate policy has focused on adaptation, rather than mitigation. But policies have been weak, and adaptation not mainstreamed.
• Detailed recommendations for adaptation to climate change impacts adopted in 2021 signalled higher political attention, but framed adaptation largely as a technical task.
• Since 2020, a broader climate change and adaptation discourse entered Russian politics where adaptation to international climate policies and the energy transition is at the centre.
• Debate on Russia’s role in the changing energy market had started, but the invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing international isolation of Russia is likely to reduce Russia’s capacity and incentives to carry out low-carbon policies.
• Western countries will have to consider how they can provide climate policy incentives to Russia in the new international situation, as Russia will remain essential for the success of the climate regime. Science diplomacy may become important.
Recent transformative resilience research calls for urban climate interventions that better meet the needs of low-income and other marginalized groups. Such initiatives, it is suggested, must move beyond technocratic and superficial solutions to address the systems and structures that create climate vulnerability. While these are important theoretical developments, there is still much to be learned about how to support transformative resilience on the ground. This paper situates transformative resilience theory in practice with lessons from a five-year research partnership in Southeast Asian cities. We argue that for resilience research to advance rights and justice, knowledge production and mobilization efforts must be conceptualized as active parts of the transformation process. Bringing together conceptual and methodological insights from resilience, political ecology and governance learning research, we offer three pathways for transformative resilience and present examples of how they can be operationalized in Southeast Asia and beyond.
This paper aims to explore how the principles of participatory action research (PAR) articulate with questions of climate justice. Drawing on three qualitative case studies in Brazil, Fiji and Kenya, the paper explores university institutional capabilities, asking how the principles of mobilising PAR to support transformative outcomes can further climate justice. The paper argues that for participatory action research to become a pathway to build universities’ capabilities, key considerations are needed. PAR needs to: (a) move beyond change in individual behaviour to respond to climate change and affect institutional norms, procedures and practices; (b) recognise and partner with marginalised groups whose voice and experiences are at the periphery of climate debate, enabling reciprocal flows of impact and knowledge between universities and wider societies; and (c) foster “relationships of equivalence” with actors within as well as outside university to influence university governance and wider climate-related policy-making processes.
This policy brief aims to expand our collective view of justice in adaptation by considering the globally interconnected nature of our economy and society. Building on the literature on just transitions for climate change mitigation, it presents a novel framework for a just transition for adaptation, with the objective of achieving globally just resilience. It then presents two case studies to demonstrate the utility of the framework for analysing and advancing globally just resilience.
The insurrectionary wave that started in Tunis in December 2010 and then unfolded across the Maghreb and Middle East has raised important questions about the role of youth in contemporary political mobilizations. While there is a plethora of studies that address the role of youth in political movements and collective actions in the MENA region during the Arab Spring, the role of youth in civic engagement in environmental causes is significantly under-researched. Interestingly in the wake of the Arab Spring, environmental issues have come to the forefront of public sphere and a number of environmental movements erupted in the MENA regions. One example of these environmental movements is ‘Egyptians against Coal’ which formed after the government’s decision to reintroduce coal as an energy source in Egypt. Within this movement, young people expressed a strong resistance to their government’s economic, social and environmental policies that advocate economic growth at the expense of their health and environmental rights. However, surprisingly little attention has been given to analyzing expressions of resistance among youth and their impacts on politics and state-society relations. By focusing on the ‘Egyptians against Coal’ movement, I address different ways through which youth are challenging power relationships that are used as a means to constitute, legitimate, and normalize business-as usual and fossil-fuel based economic growth in Egypt. The study draws on analyses of interviews with young activists who engaged in this movement and literature review of social movement theory and green politics in the Middle East.
Disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity across the world, causing significant destruction to individuals and communities. Yet many social workers are ill-prepared for the demands of this field of practice. This bookdiscusses the role of social workers in disaster work, including in disaster-preparedness, during the disaster and in post-disaster practice. It addresses the complexities of social work disaster practice, noting the need for social workers to understand the language of trauma and to respond effectively. The authors discuss disaster theory and practice, drawing out elements of practice at macro–, meso– and micro–levels and at various stages of the disaster. They examine the factors that shape vulnerability in disasters and draw out the possibility of post–traumatic growth. The final section discusses strategies for self-care in disaster practice, noting the organisational and personal strategies that can be adopted to facilitate the wellbeing of workers in the field. With real-life case studies from top scholars in the field, this book is essential reading for social work practitioners working in the field of disaster practice, as well as social work students and academics. It will also be useful to other health professionals who wish to understand this field of practice. © 2019 Margaret Alston, Tricia Hazeleger and Desley Hargreaves.
While the concept of the Anthropocene reflects the past and present nature, scale and magnitude of human impacts on the Earth System, its true significance lies in how it can be used to guide attitudes, choices, policies and actions that influence the future. Yet, to date much of the research on the Anthropocene has focused on interpreting past and present changes, while saying little about the future. Likewise, many futures studies have been insufficiently rooted in an understanding of past changes, in particular the long-term co-evolution of bio-physical and human systems. The Anthropocene perspective is one that encapsulates a world of intertwined drivers, complex dynamic structures, emergent phenomena and unintended consequences, manifest across different scales and within interlinked biophysical constraints and social conditions. In this paper we discuss the changing role of science and the theoretical, methodological and analytical challenges in considering futures of the Anthropocene. We present three broad groups of research questions on: (1) societal goals for the future; (2) major trends and dynamics that might favor or hinder them; (3) and factors that might propel or impede transformations towards desirable futures. Tackling these questions requires the development of novel approaches integrating natural and social sciences as well as the humanities beyond what is current today. We present three examples, one from each group of questions, illustrating how science might contribute to the identification of desirable and plausible futures and pave the way for transformations towards them. We argue that it is time for debates on the sustainability of the Anthropocene to focus on opportunities for realizing desirable and plausible futures.
Are established economic, social and political practices capable of dealing with the combined crises of climate change and the global economic system? Will falling back on the wisdoms that contributed to the crisis help us to find ways forward or simply reconfigure risk in another guise? This volume argues that the combination of global environmental change and global economic restructuring require a rethinking of the priorities, processes and underlying values that shape contemporary development aspirations and policy. This volume brings together leading scholars to address these questions from several disciplinary perspectives: environmental sociology, human geography, international development, systems thinking, political sciences, philosophy, economics and policy/ management science. The book is divided into four parts that examine contemporary development discourses and practices. It bridges geographical and disciplinary divides, and includes chapters on innovative governance that confront unsustainable economic and environmental relations in both developing and developed contexts. It emphasises the ways in which dominant development paths have necessarily forced a separation of individuals from nature, but also from society and even from 'self '. These three levels of alienation each form a thread that runs through the book. There are different levels and opportunities for a transition towards resilience, raising questions surrounding identity, governance and ecological management. This places resilience at the heart of the contemporary crisis of capitalism, and speaks to the relationship between the increasingly global forms of economic development and the difficulties in framing solutions to the environmental problems that carbon-based development brings in its wake. Existing social science can help in not only identifying the challenges but also potential pathways for making change locally and in wider political, economic and cultural systems, but it must do so by identifying transitions out of carbon dependency and the kinds of political challenges they imply for reflexive individuals and alternative community approaches to human security and well-being. Climate Change and the Crisis of Capitalism contains contributions from leading scholars to produce a rich and cohesive set of arguments, from a range of theoretical and empirical viewpoints. It analyses the problem of resilience under existing circumstances, but also goes beyond this to seek ways in which resilience can provide a better pathway and template for a more sustainable future. This volume will be of interest to both undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Human Geography, Environmental Policy and Politics.
Even the most progressive communities and local governments in the United States are only in the beginning stages of adapting to climate change. Most places are not far enough along to evaluate outcome-oriented success metrics related to their adaptation strategies. One measure of success, however, is advancing through the process of adaptation and overcoming obstacles along the way. Case studies of local and regional government adaptation processes from the San Francisco Bay Area in California are presented here, showing a variety of barriers but also concerted strategies to overcome these obstacles. Results of both the most common barriers and the most commonly applied strategies to overcome them are institutional in nature, followed by attitudinal and values-based impediments, lack of resources, and politics. Given the importance of institutions to successful adaptation, we review common approaches used to define and evaluate effectiveness of institutions, suggesting how these approaches may be used in future studies to gauge adaptation success. Many of the strategies employed in the cases already exhibit several attributes of successful institutions, which is evidence that efforts in the region are setting the foundation for a successful path forward.
The discussion of the Anthropocene focuses attention on the changing geological context for the future of humanity, change wrought by practices that secure particular forms of human life. These are frequently discussed in geography in terms of biopolitics. In particular liberal societies powered by carboniferous capitalism and using their practices of war secure 'biohumanity'. Climate change is one of the key dimensions of the future that biopolitical strategies of managing risk and contingency have so far failed to address effectively. The debate about the relationship climate and security emphasises that the geological circumstances of the Anthropocene require a different biopolitics, one that understands that securing the biohuman is now the danger, and as an exigesis of the E3G analysis of "Degrees of Risk" shows, one that conventional understandings of risk management cannot adequately encompass. The Anthropocene provides a political recontextualisation for possible new forms of biopolitics after the biohuman.
Situating the ‘post-ecologist turn’ within the framework of post-politics, we
not only investigate why environmental issues are so easily represented in
consensual and technocratic terms, but also seek avenues for repoliticisation.
We thereby try to avoid the pitfall of a voluntaristic or substantively normative
approach to what repoliticisation can mean. By pointing to the subtle
polemic on a meta-level which lurks beneath even the most consensual
discourse, a potential starting point for repoliticisation is uncovered, which
also enables a political rereading of the ‘post-ecologist turn’. Finally, we
argue that the same characteristics that make the environmental question
liable to depoliticisation can also turn it into a field of politicisation par
excellence.
Several scholars have criticized the predominant post-political representations of our current era, particularly with regard to climate change. However, what happens when a movement explicitly aims at repoliticizing the present in an attempt to open a space for change? Combining scholar activism with theoretical insights from post-foundational political theorists, such as Jacques Rancière, Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau, this paper studies the paradoxical nature of the attempt to repoliticize climate change by Climate Justice Action (CJA), a grassroots movement that was set up before the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009. Comparing different repoliticization strategies, the paper shows how CJA exhibits core features of a Rancièrian political act, which makes visible what was previously invisible by starting from the postulate of equality. However, lacking an elaborate perspective on alternatives, both Rancière and CJA appear to be stuck in the present. Drawing on Mouffe and Laclau’s discourse theory, the paper subsequently analyzes the nodal points of CJA’s discourse that could function as inscription points for alternatives. Yet, these points appear to primarily intensify a we/them distinction. The result is a paradox: to create a space for imagining alternative futures, one must first fight post-political representations of the present. However, when politicization becomes an end in itself, the outreach of the movement, and therefore its capacity to repoliticize and stimulate the imagination of alternative futures, is constrained.
Climate adaptation has become a pressing issue. Yet little attention has been paid to the consequences of adaptation policies and practices for sustainability. Recognition that not every adaptation to climate change is a good one has drawn attention to the need for sustainable adaptation strategies and measures that contribute to social justice and environmental integrity. This article presents four normative principles to guide responses to climate change and illustrates the significance of the ‘sustainable adaptation’ concept through case studies from diverse contexts. The principles are: first, recognize the context for vulnerability, including multiple stressors; second, acknowledge that differing values and interests affect adaptation outcomes; third, integrate local knowledge into adaptation responses; and fourth, consider potential feedbacks between local and global processes. We argue that fundamental societal transformations are required in order to achieve sustainable development pathways and avoid adaptation funding going into efforts that exacerbate vulnerability and contribute to rising emissions. Despite numerous challenges involved in achieving such change, we suggest that sustainable adaptation practices have the potential to address some of the shortcomings of conventional social and economic development pathways.
This article interrogates the relationship between two apparently disjointed themes: the consensual presentation and mainstreaming of the global problem of climate change on the one hand and the debate in political theory/philosophy that centers around the emergence and consolidation of a post-political and post-democratic condition on the other. The argument advanced in this article attempts to tease out this apparently paradoxical condition. On the one hand, the climate is seemingly politicized as never before and has been propelled high on the policy agenda. On the other hand, a number of increasingly influential political philosophers insist on how the post-politicization (or de-politicization) of the public sphere (in parallel and intertwined with processes of neoliberalization) have been key markers of the political process over the past few decades. We proceed in four steps. First, we briefly outline the basic contours of the argument and its premises. Second, we explore the ways in which the present climate conundrum is predominantly staged through the mobilization of particular apocalyptic imaginaries. Third, we argue that this specific (re-)presentation of climate change and its associated policies is sustained by decidedly populist gestures. Finally, we discuss how this particular choreographing of climate change is one of the arenas through which a post-political frame and post-democratic political configuration have been mediated.
Symbolic representation is a key dimension of political representation and deserves critical attention when the agenda is to rethink popular representation. In his outline of a framework for analysing political representation, Törnquist1 highlights the lasting influence of Pitkin’s classic study of The Concept of Representation.2
Pitkin famously distinguishes between representation as ‘standing for’ and representation as ‘acting for’ another, that is, a distinction between what a representative is and what she does. Within this classification scheme, symbolic representation is presented as one way of standing for a social group. Although descriptive representation means that a representative body reflects the composition of the people that are being represented, symbolic representation implies that a representative symbolises a constituency, for example, the way a king is a symbolic figure for the nation. Symbols might be arbitrary or natural, but this is of little relevance because the connection between a symbol and its referent is about feelings rather than likeness, in contrast to descriptive representation. What matters for symbolic representation is the extent to which people believe in a symbol.
There is now an emerging body of thought on the dynamics of de-politicization, the ‘disappearance of the political’, the erosion of democracy and of the public sphere, and the contested emergence of a post-political or post-democratic socio-spatial configuration. I situate and explore this alleged ‘post-democratization’ in light of recent post-Althusserian political thought. I proceed in four steps. First, I discuss the contested configurations of this post-politicization and the processes of post-democratization. In a second part, I propose a series of theoretical and political arguments that help frame the evacuation of the properly political from the spaces of post-democratic policy negotiation. This diagnostic is related to a particular interpretation of the distinction between ‘the political’ and ‘polic(e)y/‘politics’. In a third part, I argue how emancipatory–democratic politics can be reclaimed around notions of equality, and freedom. In the concluding part, perspectives for re-vitalising the political possibilities of a spatialized emancipatory project are presented. The crux of the argument unfolds the tension between politics, which is always specific, particular, and ‘local’ on the one hand and the universal procedure of the democratic political that operates under the signifiers of equality and freedom on the other.
The argument underlying this article is that innovative and skillful change strategies are needed in order to handle a range of complex and difficult societal issues. For many of these so-called wicked issues, conventional institutions and policies have performed rather poorly. It can be reasonably argued that societal change agents play a crucial role in catalysing developmental processes regarding our societies' problem-solving strategies and organizational forms. The purpose of this article is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the different ways societal change agents engage wicked issues by developing a conceptual framework for analysing the meaning-making patterns of change agents. The framework integrates relevant concepts and models from the field of adult development with a specific focus on the role of awareness in five domains: task complexity, context, stakeholders, self, and perspectives. The framework is expected to be useful in analysing and explaining the variability in how societal change agents construct visions, goals, strategies, and courses of action, as well as in analysing patterns of effectiveness and success in initiatives that engage complex societal issues. Knowledge gained from such studies can (presumably) be used for designing more effective forms of scaffolding individual competence development as well as collective problem-solving and strategy development processes.
A great variety of examples of calamities and disasters all testify to the blurring of boundaries between the human and the artificial, the technological and the natural, the non-human and the cyborg-human; they certainly also suggest that there are all manner of Natures out there. While some of the examples promise ’sustainable’ forms of development, others seem to stray further away from what might be labelled as sustainable. Sustainable processes are sought for around the world and solutions for our precarious environmental condition are feverishly developed.
So, while one sort of sustainability seems to be predicated upon feverishly developing new Natures (like artificial meat, cloned stem cells or manufactured clean water), forcing Nature to act in a way we deem sustainable or socially necessary, the other type is predicated upon limiting or redressing our intervention in Nature, returning it to a presumably more benign condition, so that human and non-human sustainability in the medium- and long-term can be assured. Despite the apparent contradictions of these two ways of ’becoming sustainable’, they share the same basic vision that techno-natural and socio-metabolic interventions are urgently needed if we wish to secure the survival of the planet and much of what it contains. The examples suggest that we urgently need to interpolate our understandings of Nature, revisit what we mean by Nature, and, what we assume Nature to be.
Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.
The possibility of measuring and comparing sustainability performance is generally taken for granted in management studies and practices based on the evaluation, selection and ranking of the supposedly best companies in the field. The purpose of this article is to question this basic assumption by analyzing the comparability of sustainability performance through a systematic review of 12 mining company reports using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. The analysis of information based on 92 GRI indicators raises serious questions concerning the hypothesis of measurability and comparability of sustainability performance, drawing attention to the main reasons that make it very difficult if not impossible to establish a credible and justifiable classification among organizations.
La possibilité de mesurer et de comparer les performances de développement durable est généralement prise pour acquise tant dans les recherches en gestion que dans les pratiques de classement ou de sélection des meilleures entreprises dans ce domaine. L’objectif de cet article est d’examiner cette hypothèse de mesurabilité et de comparabilité des performances de développement durable à partir de l’étude systématique de 12 rapports d’entreprises minières utilisant le même guideline du Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). L’analyse des informations relatives aux 92 indicateurs du GRI utilisés remet en cause l’hypothèse de comparabilité des performances de développement durable en mettant en lumière les principales raisons qui rendent pratiquement impossible l’établissement d’un classement crédible et justifiable entre les enterprises. /An abstract-video of the article is available at the following address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wttk0FoD56s&t=2s
"The case studies of Kristianstads Vattenrike, Sweden; the Northern Highlands Lake District and the Everglades in the USA; the Mae Nam Ping Basin, Thailand; and the Goulburn-Broken Catchment, Australia, were compared to assess the outcome of different actions for transforming social-ecological systems (SESs). The transformations consisted of two phases, a preparation phase and a transition phase, linked by a window of opportunity. Key leaders and shadow networks can prepare a system for change by exploring alternative system configurations and developing strategies for choosing from among possible futures. Key leaders can recognize and use or create windows of opportunity and navigate transitions toward adaptive governance. Leadership functions include the ability to span scales of governance, orchestrate networks, integrate and communicate understanding, and reconcile different problem domains. Successful transformations rely on epistemic and shadow networks to provide novel ideas and ways of governing SESs. We conclude by listing some ?rules of thumb' that can help build leadership and networks for successful transformations toward adaptive governance of social-ecological systems."
Recent UK government policy on climate change, and wider policy movement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, emphasise the building of adaptive capacity. But what are the institutional constraints that shape capacity to build adaptive organisations? The authors synthesise theory from social learning and institutional aspects of multilevel environmental governance to help unpack the patterns of individual and collective action within organisations that can enhance or restrict organisational adaptive capacity in the face of abrupt climate change. Theoretical synthesis is grounded by empirical work with a local dairy farmers group and two supporting public sector bodies that are both local actors in their own rights and which also shape the operating environment for other local actors (the Environment Agency and the Welsh Assembly and Assembly-sponsored public bodies). Providing space within and between local organisations for individuals to develop private as well as officially sanctioned social relationships is supported as a pathway to enable social learning. It is also a resource for adaptation that requires little financial investment but does call for a rethinking of the personal skills and working routines that are incentivised within organisations.
Outline of a Theory of Practice is recognized as a major theoretical text on the foundations of anthropology and sociology. Pierre Bourdieu, a distinguished French anthropologist, develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood. With his central concept of the habitus, the principle which negotiates between objective structures and practices, Bourdieu is able to transcend the dichotomies which have shaped theoretical thinking about the social world. The author draws on his fieldwork in Kabylia (Algeria) to illustrate his theoretical propositions. With detailed study of matrimonial strategies and the role of rite and myth, he analyses the dialectical process of the 'incorporation of structures' and the objectification of habitus, whereby social formations tend to reproduce themselves. A rigorous consistent materialist approach lays the foundations for a theory of symbolic capital and, through analysis of the different modes of domination, a theory of symbolic power.
An analysis of why people with knowledge about climate change often fail to translate that knowledge into action.
Global warming is the most significant environmental issue of our time, yet public response in Western nations has been meager. Why have so few taken any action? In Living in Denial, sociologist Kari Norgaard searches for answers to this question, drawing on interviews and ethnographic data from her study of "Bygdaby," the fictional name of an actual rural community in western Norway, during the unusually warm winter of 2000-2001.
In 2000-2001 the first snowfall came to Bygdaby two months later than usual; ice fishing was impossible; and the ski industry had to invest substantially in artificial snow-making. Stories in local and national newspapers linked the warm winter explicitly to global warming. Yet residents did not write letters to the editor, pressure politicians, or cut down on use of fossil fuels. Norgaard attributes this lack of response to the phenomenon of socially organized denial, by which information about climate science is known in the abstract but disconnected from political, social, and private life, and sees this as emblematic of how citizens of industrialized countries are responding to global warming.
Norgaard finds that for the highly educated and politically savvy residents of Bygdaby, global warming was both common knowledge and unimaginable. Norgaard traces this denial through multiple levels, from emotions to cultural norms to political economy. Her report from Bygdaby, supplemented by comparisons throughout the book to the United States, tells a larger story behind our paralysis in the face of today's alarming predictions from climate scientists.
Introduction, Climate change is now considered by many to be the most complex and serious environmental issue that human societies have ever faced. The science is unequivocal – human activities are influencing the climate system, contributing to increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, the widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising average global sea levels (IPCC, 2007). Well-known economists have shown that there are instrumental reasons to immediately minimise CO2 emissions (Stern, 2007), and these arguments are underscored by global assessments of the potential human impacts (UNDP, 2007/2008; Global Humanitarian Forum, 2009). Some voices argue that climate change is a cultural phenomenon that is reshaping understandings of humanity's place on Earth (Hulme, 2009), while others warn that ‘[w]e do not seem to have the slightest understanding of the seriousness ofour plight’ (Lovelock, 2009: 4). Al Gore's famous statement that ‘the truth about the climate crisis is an inconvenient one that means we are going to have to change the way we live our lives’ (2006: 286) captures the essence of the climate change challenge. The problem is that we have very little idea about what exactly needs to be changed and why.Although it has taken the global community and the general public many years to acknowledge the inconvenient truth pointed to by Gore, the urgency of responding to the climate crisis is becoming increasingly evident.
This book explores the connections between two of the most transformative processes of the 21st century, namely global environmental change and globalization. It presents a conceptual framework for analyzing the interactions between these two processes, and illustrates, through case studies, how these interactions create situations of "double exposure." Drawing upon case studies largely related to climate change, the book shows how prominent recent and current environmental events - recurring droughts in India, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the melting of the Arctic ice sheet - demonstrate different pathways of interaction between globalization and global environmental change. Each of these pathways shows how broader human security concerns, including increasing inequality, growing vulnerability, and unsustainable rates of development, are integrally connected to both processes of global change. The double exposure framework not only sheds light on the dangers associated with these two global processes, but also reveals possibilities for using the interactions to generate opportunities for positive action. The book ultimately challenges the ways that global environmental change and globalization are viewed and addressed. By drawing attention to double exposure, the book shows how integrated responses to global environmental change and globalization can create new types of synergies that promote sustainability and enhance human security.
This progress report considers the need for developing a critical body of research on deliberate transformation as a response to global environmental change. Although there is a rapidly growing literature on adaptation to environmental change, including both incremental and transformational adaptation, this often focuses on accommodating change, rather than contesting it and creating alternatives. Given increasing calls from scientists and activists for transformative actions to avoid dangerous changes in the earth system, and the likelihood that ‘urgent’ solutions will be imposed by various interests, many new and important questions are emerging about individual and collective capacities to deliberately transform systems and structures in a manner that is both ethical and sustainable. This presents a transformative challenge to global change science itself that calls for new approaches to transdisciplinary research.
Most attempts to formalize climate politics have focused on the reform of current governance regimes, including norms, rules, regulations, political will, and decision‐making procedures. Emphasis on reform entails a realist political approach, which only accounts for those incremental changes in power that can be objectively justified in terms of solving practical problems. This paper argues that political realism implicitly supports developmentalist logics of perpetual material growth which are precisely at the root of global environmental problems. Therefore, climate researchers have to move beyond this tradition of political thought, and engage in ‘critical theories’ and idealist approaches that question contemporary power relations. A few scholars have drawn on critical theory, historical materialism, Foucault, and Gramsci to explore power and human emancipation in the context of global environmental politics. These scholars identify hegemonic structures as essential causes of climate change. Accordingly, current power relations need to be fundamentally challenged, not only whenever extreme poverty averts the basic exercise of adaptive capacities, but, more broadly, whenever modernity and globalization set societies on unsustainable paths. This entails, on the one hand, redefining climate change as an opportunity to transform the structures under which modernity and global capitalism take place. On the other hand, it calls for reinterpreting adaptation within a broader project of universal emancipation from the structures that constrain our essential freedom and, with that, hinder effective and just societal responses to the challenges of climate change. WIREs Clim Change 2010 1 781–785 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.87
This article is categorized under: Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Sociology/Anthropology of Climate Knowledge
Systems practice has motored on relentlessly in the last 15 to 20 years, making its major tracks and dust storms in methodology
practice while, increasingly, undertaking self-critique of those tracks and dust storms using social theory. This critique
has blown away some of the fallout of methodology practice and mapped the tracks onto theory about society and organization.
Cross-referencing promises to yield insights for both social theory and systems methodology practice.
In this short and deliberately provocative paper I reflect on what seems to be a yawning gulf between the potential contribution of the social sciences and the typically restricted models and concepts of social change embedded in contemporary environmental policy in the UK, and in other countries too. As well as making a strong case for going beyond what I refer to as the dominant paradigm of ‘ABC’—attitude, behaviour, and choice—I discuss the attractions of this model, the blind spots it creates, and the forms of governance it sustains. This exercise provides some insight into why so much relevant social theory remains so marginalised, and helps identify opportunities for making better use of existing intellectual resources.
This paper discusses the application of systems thinking concepts and tools in establishing 'Learning Laboratories' for Sustainable Development. It first presents a brief description of the potential value of utilising biosphere reserves for implementing the learning laboratories concept, followed by how systemic processes have been developed to establish a Learning Laboratory through a comprehensive pilot project in the Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve (CBBR) in Vietnam. In this project Causal Loop Modelling were used to determine the components and interactions between the policy, social, environmental and economic dimensions of the CBBR. The resultant model has been used to identify key leverage points and where systemic interventions will be most effective (potential research projects). The model also serves as a platform for learning and research collaboration through alliances and cross-sectoral teams to address the various domains, leverage points, and interventions identified. The role and importance of systems thinking methodology and applications to deal with ever-increasing complexities of sustainable development are discussed. The modelling approach and various processes that were used in this pilot project could be extended to other biosphere reserves in Vietnam and globally, in that way creating a worldwide network of 'Learning Laboratories for Sustainable Development'. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Transforming behavior change: Beyond nudge and neuromania
- J Rowson
A new theory for the foreign policy frontier: Collaborative power.” The Atlantic
- A.-M Slaughter
- Petrie