Short Abstract
The basic scientific principles behind climate change have been known for almost a century. Scientists all over the world have since worked to refine our understanding of it, developing forecasting capabilities through sophisticated models that combine natural and social sciences. While the body of scientific evidence identifying the causes of climate change, its impacts and the potential pathways to mitigate it keeps growing, it is still a contentious political topic, raising issues as varied and complex as access to natural resources, access to food, intra-national inequality, migration patterns and the historical weight of colonial industrialisation.
This seminar will make the case that the stories we tell about climate change are crucial to understanding how it has been addressed as a policy issue. I will do this in two stages. I will first challenge the idea that climate denialism alone has been the main driver for inaction, arguing instead that the way we have come to talk about it has had the effect of distancing the issue away from people’s lives. Then, I will explore some of the dominant stories that have been used to talk about climate change in the past two decades, and highlight some interesting recent development.
Biography
Geraldine is a multi-disciplinary PhD student in climate change policy and science communication at the Science Communication Unit. She holds a First Class BSc in Management from the University of Warwick, an MSc in Sustainable Development from Paris Dauphine University and an MA with Distinction in Digital Culture from King’s College London. She is currently on the Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet (SSCP) Doctoral Training Partnership at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment.
Geraldine’s research focuses on how stories shape our understanding of science, looking particularly at the narratives that have contributed to shaping international climate policy. This research is being done under the supervision of Dr Felicity Mellor (Science Communication Unit).
Before starting her PhD research, Geraldine has worked in climate economics and policy at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Institute for Climate Change, the Climate Economics Chair in Paris and the Technical Support Unit of the IPCC Working Group III in Berlin.