Human And Social Dimensions Of Climate Change

Anomalous climatic outcomes such as higher temperatures, intense rainfall and flood, frequent and severe droughts are now at the new level. Without appropriate adaptation measures, climate change is bound to exacerbate vulnerability of society, place food security and human health at risk, threaten the lives of growing urban population and impede the goal of attaining sustainable development. The human and social dimensions of climate change, including climate policy, are essential parts of our response to the many challenges emanating from climate change. By focusing on a wide range of topics and involving a diverse array of scholars, this book sheds lights on human and social dimensions of climate change; topics neglected and often poorly understood by scholars and policymakers.

While major strides have been made in the scientific understanding of climate change, much less understood is how these dynamics in the physical enviornment interact with socioeconomic systems. This book brings together the latest knowledge on the consequences of climate change for society and how best to address them.

Anomalous climatic outcomes such as higher temperatures, intense rainfall and flood, frequent and severe droughts are now at the new level. Without appropriate adaptation measures, climate change is bound to exacerbate vulnerability of society, place food security and human health at risk, threaten the lives of growing urban population and impede the goal of attaining sustainable development. The human and social dimensions of climate change, including climate policy, are essential parts of our response to the many challenges emanating from climate change. By focusing on a wide range of topics and involving a diverse array of scholars, this book sheds lights on human and social dimensions of climate change; topics neglected and often poorly understood by scholars and policymakers.

This book builds an essential bridge between climate change and social policy. Combining ethics and human need theory with political economy and climate science, it offers a long-term, interdisciplinary analysis of the prospects for sustainable development and social justice. Beyond ‘green growth’ (which assumes an unprecedented rise in the emissions efficiency of production) it envisages two further policy stages vital for rich countries: a progressive ‘recomposition’ of consumption, and a post-growth ceiling on demand. An essential resource for scholars and policymakers.

This publication is extracted from a much larger report, Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade, which addresses the full range of the scientific issues concerning global environmental change and offers guidance to the scientific effort on these issues in the United States. This volume consists of Chapter 7 of that report, "Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change," which was written for the report by the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change of the National Research Council (NRC). It provides findings and conclusions on the key scientific questions in human dimensions research, the lessons that have been learned over the past decade, and the research imperatives for global change research funded from the United States.

The year 2016 was the hottest year on record and the third consecutive record-breaking year in planet temperatures. The following year was the hottest in a non-El Nino year. Of the seventeen hottest years ever recorded, sixteen have occurred since 2000, indicating the trend in climate change is toward an ever warmer Earth. However, climate change does not occur in a social vacuum; it reflects relations between social groups and forces us to contemplate the ways in which we think about and engage with the environment and each other. Employing the experience-near anthropological lens to consider human social life in an environmental context, this book examines the fateful global intersection of ongoing climate change and widening social inequality. Over the course of the volume, Singer argues that the social and economic precarity of poorer populations and communities—from villagers to the urban disadvantaged in both the global North and global South—is exacerbated by climate change, putting some people at considerably enhanced risk compared to their wealthier counterparts. Moreover, the book adopts and supports the argument that the key driver of global climatic and environmental change is the global economy controlled primarily by the world’s upper class, which profits from a ceaseless engine of increased production for national middle classes who have been converted into constant consumers. Drawing on case studies from Alaska, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Haiti and Mali, Climate Change and Social Inequality will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change and climate science, environmental anthropology, medical ecology and the anthropology of global health.

The consequences of climate change for society are analysed in this landmark assessment from the IPCC. This book assesses the available knowledge on the many issues that society has to face, including the international decision-making framework; applicability to climate change of techniques for assessing costs and benefits; the significant social costs of projected climate change; and the economic assessment of policy instruments to combat climate change, nationally and internationally. Some important conclusions of this Second Assessment Report indicate that 10 to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in most countries can be reduced at negative or zero cost - 'no regrets' measures. Also, the literature indicates that climate change will cause aggregate net damage, which provides an economic rationale for going beyond 'no regrets' measures. It also indicates that a portfolio of mitigation, adaptation and research measures is a sound strategy for addressing climate change given the remaining uncertainties. This report speaks directly to the issues that are faced by the many countries committed to limit emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2000, and currently negotiating actions to be taken beyond that date. Will be of great value to the international community of policymakers interested in the consequences of climate change, as well as to economists, social and natural scientists.

This bold and important new book presents current and emerging thinking on the social dimensions of climate change. Using clear language and powerful examples, it introduces key concepts and frameworks for understanding the multifaceted connections between climate and society. Robin Leichenko and Karen O’Brien frame climate change as a social issue that calls for integrative approaches to research, policy, and action. They explore dominant and relevant discourses on the social drivers and impacts of climate change, highlighting the important roles that worldviews and beliefs play in shaping responses to climate challenges. Situating climate change within the context of a rapidly changing world, the book demonstrates how dynamic political, economic, and environmental contexts amplify risks yet also present opportunities for transformative responses. Aimed at undergraduate students and others concerned with a critical challenge of our time, this informative and engaging book empowers readers with a range of possibilities for equitable and sustainable transformations in a changing climate.