Oxford Research Encyclopedia Of Climate Science

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate ChangeMarshall, & Bretschneider, 2011; Jost, Ledgerwood, & Hardin, 2008). Through metaanalysis, Hornsey and colleagues (2016) found that less belief in climate change wascorrelated with individualistic and hierarchical cultural values, as well as a strong beliefin free-market ideology. In the United Kingdom, Tyndall Centre climate scientists KevinAnderson and Alice Bows (2012) highlighted how these preexisting worldviews andprivileged positions influence presentations and discussions concerning climate change.Mainstream neoclassical economists emphasize the importance of exponential growthand unregulated markets. This business-as-usual position promises technological fixes assolutions, an approach that is used to displace consideration of larger social change. Inorder to avoid being depicted as being political, biased, and alarmist for contraveningprevailing economic beliefs, many climate scientists “repeatedly and severely underplayimplications of their analyses” (Anderson & Bows, 2012, pp. 639–640). Andrew Szasz (2007)contends that the dominant worldview even shapes the responses of individuals who areconcerned about climate and other environmental issues. The individualistic cultureencourages shopping as a solution, rather than organizing as communities for reform andchange.Overall, research has largely dispelled the “information deficit” model of climate changecommunication (Nisbet & Scheufele, 2009; Sturgis & Allum, 2004); studies have even foundthat more knowledge can hinder behavior change (Gardener & Stern, 2002; Kahlor &Rosenthal, 2009). Additionally, typical one-way communication (both individual messagesand entire campaigns) do not create deep engagement and have not led to sustainedbehavioral or political engagement (Moser, 2007; Whitmarsh, O’Neill, & Lorenzioni, 2010). Aclear conclusion is that more or supposedly better information and knowledge alone isnot powerful enough to engage the public and produce action.Climate Change Communication RequiresDifferent ApproachesA “wicked problem” is one that lacks simple or straightforward responses, has manyinterdependencies, and is socially complex, and attempts to address such an issue oftenlead to unforeseen consequences (Hulme, 2009). A group of scholars (Levin, Cashore,Bernstein, & Auld, 2012) recently labeled climate change as a “super wicked problem” withfour key features: (a) time is running out; (b) those who cause the problem also seek asolution; (c) central authority is weak or nonexistent; and (d) irrational discountingpushes responses into the future.Given this context, it is not surprising that information is not the limiting factor in actionon climate change. Greenhouse gases are invisible and unknowable to all human senses.You cannot look around and see climate change itself; it is only by comparison to pastdecades and centuries—with sufficient knowledge of the natural world and its cycles—Page 4 of 27PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLIMATE SCIENCE (climatescience.oxfordre.com). (c) OxfordUniversity Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please seeapplicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy).date: 30 May 2017

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate Changethat change is apparent or visible (Corner & Clarke, 2017; Hulme, 2009). Human causes andcontributions are dispersed and not visible (or at least not connected): turning on the airconditioner, buying clothes, working in your office, flying from coast to coast, andshopping for groceries. The social structural dimensions seem even more distant: aneconomic system predicated on constant expansion, an energy grid largely dependent onburning fossil fuels, an extensive trade network, pervasive marketing encouraging evermore consumption, unique energy demands of the built environment, and the global foodsystem.The consequences of climate change are disproportionately distributed around the worldand have already contributed to forced migrations and eroded traditional economies ofFirst Peoples. Nevertheless, for many in the global North, climate change can feel morelike a theoretical threat, existing “out there” on a different spatial and temporal scale,which is far different from typical risks and threats encountered in everyday life (Wolf &Moser, 2011). Philosopher Robert Kirkman (2007) contends that the threat of climate changeis something that we know about, not something that we feel, and thus it seems moretheoretical and hard to grasp as a danger. So far, to most people on the planet, climatechange is abstract and distant, not concrete and easily felt. The risk feels nonpersonaland concerns the future, other places, other people, and other species (Leiserowitz,Maibach, & Roser-Renouf, 2008). The need for action does not seem compelling or urgent.This notion is reinforced by economists, such as William Nordhaus (2008), who employdiscounting (a technique that involves assigning a value to the future relative to thepresent) to argue that nations should only invest modestly in reducing carbon dioxideemissions in the short term and slowly increase this amount over time. This “wait-andsee” approach displaces the culminating challenges, problems, and expenses onto futuregenerations.Individuals respond to and process information differently. For some people, knowing thescientific facts about climate change may not feel helpful or beneficial. In fact, knowingabout it may make people feel paralyzed by the magnitude and complexity of the problem,and they may disengage because of a negative (and fully rational) appraisal of theirindividual capacity and efficacy to do something about it (Wolf & Moser, 2011). Thus,knowing about climate change may exist alongside a strong sense of not knowing, aspeople tune out and become numbed to this backdrop in their everyday lives (Norgaard,2011).In comparison, it was easy to stop using ozone-depleting gases; it is virtuallyimpossible just to step outside the dominant fossil fuel culture in which we are embedded.Climate change is very threatening to our ontological security, which “refers to theconfidence that most human beings have in the continuity of their self-identity and theconstancy of the surrounding social and material environments of action” (Giddens, 1991,p. 92). Large-scale environmental change is psychologically disturbing and threatens oursense of who we are, what our dreams are, our social networks, and the natural world onwhich we depend.Page 5 of 27PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLIMATE SCIENCE (climatescience.oxfordre.com). (c) OxfordUniversity Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please seeapplicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy).date: 30 May 2017

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate ChangeSome researchers have concluded that climate change messages should avoid negativeemotions like fear and guilt, as dire messages can have contradictory effects (Feinberg &Willer, 2011; O’Neill & Nicholson-Cole, 2009). At the same time, other researchers havefound that such messages and calls for action can increase knowledge and heightenconcerns regarding climate change (Brulle, Carmichael, & Jenkins, 2012). Clearly,messages and images, particularly those that are emotion-based, are not processeduniformly by all recipients, especially in terms of salience and self-efficacy.At the individual and societal levels, disturbing emotions related to climate change maybe fully present and strongly felt, even if they are not recognized. In her yearlongethnography of a small Norwegian town, sociologist Kari Norgaard (2011) concluded thatstrong emotions and behaviors may seem as though they belong solely to individuals, butthey are very much the products of social and cultural levels of communication. Theapathy, denial, and lack of engagement that she witnessed stemmed not from individuallack of concern, but from the collective normalization of emotion and behavior. Thisoccurs at the social level: what people talk about, pay attention to, and emote. In whatNorgaard calls the social organization of denial, ignoring climate change occurs inresponse to social circumstances and is carried out through a process of socialinteraction. Individuals collectively (not just individually) distance themselves fromclimate change information and the emotions that come with it.Thus, individuals and society at large participate in what Norgaard calls implicatorydenial; this is not a rejection of climate change facts, but rather a failure to integratethose facts into everyday life or transform them into everyday action. In her study, in anabnormally warm and snowless winter, Norwegians knew about climate change at thesame time that they lived in a way suggesting that they did not know.Because climate change is a wicked issue, because social and cultural levels ofcommunication influence emotions and self-efficacy, and because of the way individualsand societies have avoided responding to it, a reboot of communication strategy isseriously needed. The following sections propose that the arts and humanities hold muchpotential for presenting climate change and its consequences in ways that allow people tosee and feel them, forging intimate personal and social connections that inspire action. Inthis sense, the arts and humanities can play an important role in shifting the social andcultural factors that influence community action and self-efficacy.Arts and Humanities: Forging andExperiencing ConnectionsThe arts and humanities are extensive realms, which could be endlessly explored.Furthermore, there is much fluidity among the arts, humanities, and sciences. In fact,some of the most exciting work involves areas where these fields of study intersect. A fewPage 6 of 27PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLIMATE SCIENCE (climatescience.oxfordre.com). (c) OxfordUniversity Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please seeapplicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy).date: 30 May 2017

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate Changeof the important ways that the arts and humanities can help move beyond simplyconveying information about climate change to seeing and feeling it corporally arediscussed here. This move is especially imperative; it helps connect people to place inrelation to the larger natural world—bonds that have become increasingly alien to many.Both academic works and public representations of the arts and humanities areconsidered. The latter provides useful examples beyond the halls of academia, whichoften are not adequately studied but nevertheless embody powerful elements for forgingconnections. This work is generally informed and influenced by climate science and triesto address some of the aforementioned shortcomings in climate change communication.The arts and humanities, in education and in public, offer significantly different ways toengage people. They include telling climate stories in distinctive ways that involve avariety of senses. They allow the so-called invisibility of climate change to be seen, felt,and imagined in the present and the future. The arts and humanities create space togrieve and experience loss. They help establish a sense of place in relation to the largerworld. They encourage critical reflection of existing social structures and cultural andmoral norms. Here, the importance of engaging beyond the individual level is emphasizedas a path to social change. As part of the exploration of these issues, five key elements(along with examples) within the arts and humanities that effectively connect withaudiences are discussed: engaged stories, corporally sensed and felt experiences,interdependency with nature, emotions, and connection with place. As can be expected,these key elements overlap and reinforce each other.Page 7 of 27PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLIMATE SCIENCE (climatescience.oxfordre.com). (c) OxfordUniversity Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please seeapplicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy).date: 30 May 2017

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate ChangeClimate Stories and EngagementEngagement with climate change has been defined as “a personal state of connectionwith the issue concurrently comprising cognitive, affective and behavioralaspects” (Lorenzoni et al., 2007, p. 446). According to Wolf and Moser (2011), engagementtakes place on three levels: the mind, the heart, and the hands. It is deeper and moreinteractive than a one-way delivery of information, and it typically extends beyond purelyrational-cognitive information processing. Thus, climate engagement involvesunderstanding and caring about the issue, feeling that something can be done to addressthe problem, and interacting with others to create avenues to accomplish change.Within the arts and humanities, climate stories and literature are among the recentattempts to make discussions regarding climate change the social norm. Kathleen DeanMoore and Michael Nelson (2010) initiated a global conversation to collect moral wisdomabout climate change from artists, activists, politicians, community leaders, writers,scientists, religious leaders, business leaders, and others, with a specific focus on fusingfacts and values. In Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, over 80 individualauthors assert that we have a moral obligation to act in the face of increasinglydevastating consequences. Reasons for acting are varied: (a) wanting to ensure that theirchildren and grandchildren can experience the joys and beauty of the world; (b) desiringto protect the conditions that have allowed so many other species to flourish; (c) workingto maintain sacred cultural traditions; (d) enabling humans to embrace theirinterdependency to the larger world; (e) feeling love and appreciation of the Earth; (f)striving to be good stewards of creation; and (g) insisting that justice demands it. Readersend up in dialogue with the authors, sharing specific dreams, hopes, and reasons forcaring about the state of the world. Rather than reducing demand for action to a singleexplanation, these essays offer many reasons that connect with a diverse public.A variety of storytelling projects and oral histories provide engagement withenvironmental issues and climate change (Ereaut & Segnit, 2006; Kearney, 1994; Leggett &Finlay, 2001; Milstein, Anguiano, Sandoval, Chen, & Dickinson, 2011). Ashlee Cunsolo Willoxand colleagues (2013) worked with the Inuit government in Rigolet, Labrador, Canada toencourage residents to engage in digital storytelling to document how changing climatewas affecting local ecosystems, as part of a larger project called “Changing Climate,Changing Health, Changing Stories.” These tales shared how Inuit peoples’ lives aresituated within the surrounding landscape and ecosystems. Changing environmentalconditions affected hunting, fishing, and traveling and undermined the well-being andhealth of these communities. Individuals explained how climate changes contributed tofeelings of depression, anxiety, and fear, as their lives were made more difficult. Thisproject connects climate change with real people. These stories, in combination withothers, counter the tendency to view climate change as merely a theoretical threat.Page 8 of 27PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLIMATE SCIENCE (climatescience.oxfordre.com). (c) OxfordUniversity Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please seeapplicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy).date: 30 May 2017

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate ChangeA relatively new genre of fiction—climate fiction, also known as cli-fi—is helping to breakthe silence surrounding climate change. These books generally take place in the presentor near future and convey the scientific information and social context of climate changethrough the experiences of the characters in the novels, and in the case of BarbaraKingsolver’s Flight Behavior (2012), the phrase climate change is barely mentioned. Likescience fiction, cli-fi is speculative fiction that focuses on an unfolding crisis but allowsreaders to consider different scenarios, adaptations, and strategies. In her dystopiantrilogy, Margaret Atwood (2003, 2009, 2013) examines climate change bound up with socialinequality, genetic engineering and technology, and powerful corporations. Kim StanleyRobinson, a popular science-fiction novelist, writes of climate change in his Science in theCapital trilogy (2004, 2005, 2007). In The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View fromthe Future (2014), historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway depict a worldradically transformed by climate change. This fictional account, informed by scientificknowledge regarding the likely environmental consequences of climate change, offersreaders a vivid and unsettling depiction of the future that is being created. These fewbooks are important, particularly given the remarkable absence of climate change fromthe imaginary of fiction in general, as noted by Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh (2016).Climate stories are also engaging when they are performed, such as in theater, dance,and comedy. A site-specific dance performance at New York’s American Museum ofNatural History in 2015, titled On the Nature of Things, involved dancers from theArmitage Gone! Dance Company and the Manhattan Youth Ballet, narration from PaulEhrlich’s essay “On Closing the Culture Gap,” and music from several musicians,including Philip Glass. According to Armitage, the piece was meant to evoke the perils,harmony, and chaos of climate change and other environmental problems in music andbody language, and to communicate the need to adapt human nature to nature (Brooks,2015).Theater productions include The Great Immensity, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet,and This Clement World; productions in Great Britain included The Word for Snow, TheHeretic, Ten Billion, and Greenland. The Great Immensity received a “rare and unusuallylarge” 700,000 arts grant from the National Science Foundation (Zinoman, 2013).Greenland, which was performed at the National Theatre in London, presents threestories addressing the personal, political, and scientific. The three stories include those ofa young man who documents how climate change is affecting the behaviors of arcticbirds; a college student who drops out of school so that she can devote herself to politicalmobilization; and a climate modeler who fears that the consequences of climate changeare going to be worse than he can imagine. The conflictual and ineffectual politicalstrategies to address climate change that were discussed at the United Nations ClimateConference in Copehagen in 2009 are front and center, generating an unsettling tensionregarding what to do (Sierz, 2011).Documentary films have presented powerful climate stories, highlighting ecologicaltransformations and public efforts to address this global problem. The Island President(2012) focuses on the threat that the citizens of the Maldives confront due to rising sealevels by detailing the efforts of Mohamed Nasheed, who was president from 2008 toPage 9 of 27PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLIMATE SCIENCE (climatescience.oxfordre.com). (c) OxfordUniversity Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please seeapplicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy).date: 30 May 2017

How the Arts and Humanities Help People See, Feel, and Engage with Climate Change2012, to mobilize global support to address climate change. Nasheed explains that failureto address climate change will submerge the 1,200 islands of the Maldives, wiping thenation off the map. To dramatize the issue, the Maldives government held a 30-minuteunderwater cabinet meeting and signed a document calling on all nations to cut carbondioxide emissions.For centuries, comedy and satire have broached difficult topics and revealed theircontradictions, expressed emotions, and relieved tension, and increased the salience ofcertain topics. A variety of ind

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