scholarly journals The role of meteorological processes in the description of uncertainty for climate change decision-making

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 643-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Briley ◽  
Walker S. Ashley ◽  
Richard B. Rood ◽  
Andrew Krmenec
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making

scholarly journals Imaginary politics: Climate change and making the future

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manjana Milkoreit
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Motivation For Change ◽  
Green Earth ◽  
Collective Imagination ◽  
Climate Fiction ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Power And Agency

Climate change places major transformational demands on modern societies. Transformations require the capacity to collectively envision and meaningfully debate realistic and desirable futures. Without such a collective imagination capacity and active deliberation processes, societies lack both the motivation for change and guidance for decision-making in a certain direction of change. Recent arguments that science fiction can play a role in societal transformation processes is not yet supported by theory or empirical evidence. Advancing the argument that fiction can support sustainability transformations, this paper makes four contributions. First, building on the imaginary concept, I introduce and define the idea of socio-climatic imaginaries. Second, I develop a theory of imagination as linked cognitive-social processes that enable the creation of collectively shared visions of future states of the world. This theory addresses the dynamics that bridge imagination processes in the individual mind and collective imagining that informs social and political decision-making. Third, emphasizing the political nature of creating and contesting imaginaries in a society, I introduce the role of power and agency in this theory of collective imagination. I argue that both ideational and structural power concepts are relevant for understanding the potential societal influence of climate fiction. Finally, the paper illuminates these different forms of transformational power and agency with two brief case studies: two climate fiction novels. I contrast a dystopian and utopian science fiction novel – Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife (2015) and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Green Earth (2015). The two books are very similar in their power/agency profile, but the comparison provides initial insights into the different roles of optimistic and pessimistic future visions.

scholarly journals Demanding stories: television coverage of sustainability, climate change and material demand

2017 ◽  
Vol 375 (2095) ◽  
pp. 20160375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Smith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Future Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
Demand Reduction ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Television Coverage

This paper explores the past, present and future role of broadcasting, above all via the medium of television, in shaping how societies talk, think about and act on climate change and sustainability issues. The paper explores these broad themes via a focus on the important but relatively neglected issue of material demand and opportunities for its reduction. It takes the outputs and decision-making of one of the world's most influential broadcasters, the BBC, as its primary focus. The paper considers these themes in terms of stories, touching on some of the broader societal frames of understanding into which they can be grouped. Media decision-makers and producers from a range of genres frequently return to the centrality of ‘story’ in the development, commissioning and production of an idea. With reference to specific examples of programming, and drawing on interviews with media practitioners, the paper considers the challenges of generating broadcast stories that can inspire engagement in issues around climate change, and specifically material demand. The concluding section proposes actions and approaches that might help to establish material demand reduction as a prominent way of thinking about climate change and environmental issues more widely. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Material demand reduction’.

scholarly journals Women as Drivers for a Sustainable and Social Inclusive Development in Mountain Regions – The Case of the Austrian Alps

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 808-821
Author(s):  
Theresia Oedl-Wieser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Sustainable Livelihoods ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Mountain Regions ◽  
The World

Abstract Women in mountain regions play an important role regarding the agricultural production and ensuring sustainable livelihoods. Furthermore, they are active in climate change adaption and preservation of biodiversity. Despite these important activities and performances the vital role of women for a sustainable and social inclusive development in mountain regions is often invisible and not appreciated enough in society. There still exists structural discrimination of women which is caused by patriarchal societies, social and cultural norms as well as difficult economic situations. Considering the need to foster the dynamic and sustainable development of mountain regions all over the world, it is of paramount importance to reflect and integrate women’s issues, problems and needs to a larger extent in research, public policy and in worldwide decision-making agendas.

scholarly journals DECISION MAKING AND ADAPTATION PROCESSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDUARDO SANDOVAL BUSTOS ◽  
◽  
SEBASTIÁN DIAZ VICUÑA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Knowledge Source ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Adaptation Processes ◽  
The Way

Abstract Climate change imposes certain challenges not only to ecosystems but to societies as well. The change in environmental conditions makes necessary to review the decision-making process related to adaptation to climate change. This review should consider future risks or current conditions of vulnerability through existing mechanisms in organizations or societies. From this analysis onwards, processes must be developed allowing, either to prepare the way to face expected future impacts or to decrease the current vulnerability regarding climate by creating more resilient systems. In this context, the role of the academy, as a knowledge source, results fundamentally. Nevertheless, this highlight the need to review and improve the communication processes from academy towards different interests groups by means of the co-production and strengthening of links among different society components.

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