HOW CLIMATE CHANGE COMES TO MATTER: THE COMMUNAL FACTS OF LIFE
Reviewed by Jessica Gordon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
An engaging title demonstrating that climate change action will require more than increased public understanding and access to information
How Climate Change Comes to Matter: The Communal Life of Facts, by Candis Callison, Duke University Press, 2014
Many of us have wondered what it will take for Americans to finally address climate change, given the overwhelming scientific evidence already in hand. How Climate Change Comes to Matter: The Communal Life of Facts sheds light on this question by analyzing the discourses and practices of five communities engaging the public on climate change: Arctic indigenous representatives of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, corporate social responsibility activists associated with Ceres, American evangelical Christians, science journalists, and science and science policy experts. The contrast across these communities creates a compelling account and dispels any notion that climate change is simply a scientific question. Using an ethnographic approach, the cases demonstrate how climate change has become intertwined with belief systems, practices, expertise and indigenous knowledge as ideas move across and within these groups and climate change gains in salience.
Callison argues that action on climate change ultimately requires “a negotiation with ethics, morality, and meaning-making both in collective and individual terms.” Thus, the common plea that we need to increase public understanding and access to information will never be sufficient enough to support real change. The differences among the five cases make this abundantly clear and leads Callison to call for collective public engagement across diverse groups.
At times, the book feels a bit too much like a dissertation, but it is engaging nonetheless. While focused on climate change, it offers useful advice for those interested in other environmental issues as it delves into broad questions about the role of science, scientists and the media, expertise and advocacy in democracies.
