Resource Archive

Luke Kemp et al: “Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios“, PNAS, Vol. 119 No. 34, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2108146119
Prudent risk management requires consideration of bad-to-worst-case scenarios. Yet, for climate change, such potential futures are poorly understood. Could anthropogenic climate change result in worldwide societal collapse or even eventual human extinction? At present, this is a dangerously underexplored topic. Yet there are ample reasons to suspect that climate change could result in a global catastrophe. Analyzing the mechanisms for these extreme consequences could help galvanize action, improve resilience, and inform policy, including emergency responses. We outline current knowledge about the likelihood of extreme climate change, discuss why understanding bad-to-worst cases is vital, articulate reasons for concern about catastrophic outcomes, define key terms, and put forward a research agenda.

Daniel Steel et al: “Climate change and the threat to civilization“, PNAS, Vol. 119 No. 42, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210525119
Although a body of scientific research exists on historical and archeological cases of collapse, discussions of mechanisms whereby climate change might cause the collapse of current civilizations has mostly been the province of journalists, philosophers, novelists, and filmmakers. We believe that this should change. Here we call for treating the mechanisms and uncertainties associated with climate collapse as a critically important topic for scientific inquiry. Doing so requires clarifying what “civilization collapse” means and explaining how it connects to topics addressed in climate science, such as increased risks from both fast- and slow-onset extreme weather events. This kind of information, we claim, is crucial for the public and for policymakers alike, for whom climate collapse may be a serious concern.

Ole Martin Sandberg: “Climate Disruption, Political Stability, and Collective Imagination“, Radical Philosophy Review, Volume 23, Issue 2, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5840/radphilrev2020324108
Many fear that climate change will lead to the collapse of civilization. I argue both that this is unlikely and that the fear is potentially harmful. Using examples from recent disasters I argue that climate change is more likely to intensify the existing social order — a truly terrifying prospect. The fear of civilizational collapse is part of the climate crisis; it makes us fear change and prevents us from imagining different social relations which is necessary if we are to survive the coming disasters and prevent further escalation. Using affect theory, I claim that our visions of the future affect our ability to act in the present. Rather than imagining a terrifying societal breakdown, we can look at how communities have survived recent disasters to get an image of what we need to expand upon to prepare for the future.

Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright: Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future, Verso Books 2018, https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/520-climate-leviathan
To further the struggle for climate justice, we need to have some idea how the existing global order is likely to adjust to a rapidly changing environment. Climate Leviathan provides a radical way of thinking about the intensifying challenges to the global order. Drawing on a wide range of political thought, Joel Wainwright and Geoff Mann argue that rapid climate change will transform the world’s political economy and the fundamental political arrangements most people take for granted.

Glenn A. Albrecht: Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World, Cornell University Press 2019 https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501715228/earth-emotions/
Earth Emotions examines our positive and negative Earth emotions. It explains the author’s concept of solastalgia and other well-known eco-emotions such as biophilia and topophilia. Albrecht introduces us to the many new words needed to describe the full range of our emotional responses to the emergent state of the world.

Panu Pihkala: “Toward a Taxonomy of Climate Emotions, Frontiers in Climate” (vol 3, Jan 2022)
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/climate/articles/10.3389/fclim.2021.738154/full
There is a growing evidence that emotions shape people’s reactions to the climate crisis in profound but complex ways. Climate emotions are related to resilience, climate action, and psychological well-being and health. However, there is currently a lack of research about the array of various climate emotions. There is also a need for more integration with general research about emotions. This article conducts a preliminary exploration of the taxonomy of climate emotions, based on literature reviews and philosophical discussion.

Halldór Björnsson et al: Umfang og afleiðingar hnattrænna loftslags­breytinga og áhrif þeirra á Íslandi: Fjórða samantektarskýrsla vísindanefndar um loftslagsbreytingar, Veðurstofa Íslands 2023, https://www.loftslagsbreytingar.is/
The extent and consequences of global climate change and its impact on Iceland: Fourth Summary Report of the Scientific Panel on Climate Change. This report confirms, without a doubt, that climate change has begun to alter the natural environment and living conditions of people in Iceland, with growing challenges for the economy, society, and nature. (In Icelandic).

Sóllilja Bjarnadóttir, Sigrun Olafsdottir, Helga Ögmundardottir: Hvað finnst Íslendingum um umhverfismál og loftslagsbreytingar? Niðurstöður úr Alþjóðlegu viðhorfakönnuninni 2010 og 2020, January 2023, http://researchgate.net
Research Report: What do Icelanders think about the environment and climate change? Results from the Global Attitude Survey 2010 and 2020 (Icelandic).

Auður Aðalsteinsdóttir, Elín Björk Jóhannsdóttir, Hafdís Hanna Ægisdóttir (ed.):  Fléttur VI – Loftslagsvá og jafnrétti, Háskólaútgáfan 2024, https://haskolautgafan.is/products/flettur-vi-loftslagsva-og-jafnretti
Fléttur VI: Loftslagsvá og jafnrétti (Climate Risk and Equality) is the sixth publication in the RIKK – Icelandic Research Institute for Equality Studies series. The book discusses climate risk from a gender and equality perspective. It explores the multifaceted relationship between climate change, gender equality, and social justice with the aim of contributing to a broader understanding of this major issue of our time. (Icelandic)

Ritið 1/2016: Loftslagsbreytingar, frásagnir, hugmyndafræði, Ritið, tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar, Háskóli Íslands 2016, https://timarit.is/page/6988480?iabr=on#page/n0/mode/2up
2016 issue of the journal of the School of Humanities at the University of Iceland with a theme on climate change.

Ritið 2/2008: Hlýnun jarðar, Háskóli Íslands, Ritið, tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar, https://timarit.is/page/6205833?iabr=on#page/n0/mode/2up
2008 issue of the journal of the School of Humanities at the University of Iceland with a theme on global warming.

Blanche Verlie: “Bearing worlds: learning to live-with climate change“, Environmental Education Research, Volume 25, 2019 – Issue 5, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2019.1637823
This paper explores the emotional experiences of some undergraduate sustainability students in a semester long course on climate change. Specifically, it attends to experiences of anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, guilt, grief and hope. I suggest these experiences are characteristic of a process I term learning to live-with climate change.

Annelie Ott: “Climate change and education in shades of blue: between darkness and light with agential realism and object-oriented ontology“, Environmental Education Research Volume 30, 2024 – Issue 11, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2023.2296356
Climate change education is infused with images of light. Scholars in the field tend to emphasize hope, sustainability, and solution. They foreground knowledgeable humans who construct better worlds and thereby bind themselves to modern understandings of human being and becoming. I draw on agential realism and object-oriented ontology to contest the metaphor of light, the focus on hope, and the modern premises they rely on—particularly in the context of massive sustainability crises such as climate change.

Ole Martin Sandberg: “Focusing on emotions in climate education: A felt sense of the climate“, in Practicing Embodied Thinking in Research and Learning, Routledge 2024, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003397939-15
Using a course on climate change at the University of Iceland as a case study, this chapter illustrates the benefits of employing the methodologies of embodied critical thinking (ECT) in environmental education and of making the emotional and felt dimension an active focus in the educational process. Drawing on cognitive researchers like Eugene Gendlin and Antonio Damasio, the chapter emphasises the integral role of emotions in rationality and reflects on student responses, showcasing shifts from anxiety to hope and from despair to proactive engagement.

Athena Vongalis-Macrow: “Developing pedagogies for teaching about climate change“, The International Journal of Learning, vol. 17, no. 9, 2010, https://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30032542
Understanding climate change is a challenge for most citizens and it follows that teaching about climate change is equally challenging. In order to suggest new pedagogical strategies for teaching about climate change, this paper resists the deficit model of teacher education by suggesting a more organic approach in developing climate change pedagogies. This suggestion emerges from research which examines how prospective teachers understand climate change as both a scientific and social issue. Preliminary results suggest a socialized understanding of climate change as the consensual paradigm for dealing with the complex challenges presented by climate change.

Joe Duggan et al: “Climate emotions: it is ok to feel the way you do“, The Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 5, Issue 12, 2021,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00318-1
Between 2014 and 2020, Joe Duggan approached climate scientists from across the world, asking them to handwrite a letter on how climate change makes them feel. 5 years after the initial project launched, he returned to some original contributors and asked them the same question. These letters were shown in galleries and housed online under the banner, is this how you feel? They have been the focus of preliminary research, and have planted the seed for discussions around climate grief and anxiety. We have coded the 73 letters written by climate researchers as part of this project and present the findings here.

Hickman, Caroline et al: “Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey“, The Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 5, Issue 12, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3
Climate change has important implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to climate anxiety. This is the first large-scale investigation of climate anxiety in children and young people globally and its relationship with perceived government response. We surveyed 10 000 children and young people (aged 16–25 years) in ten countries (Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Portugal, the UK, and the USA; 1000 participants per country).

Sally Weintrobe (ed.): Engaging with Climate Change: Psychoanalytic and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Routledge 2012, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203094402
Engaging with Climate Change is one of the first books to explore in depth what climate change actually means to people. It brings members of a wide range of different disciplines in the social sciences together in discussion and to introduce a psychoanalytic perspective. The important insights that result have real implications for policy, particularly with regard to how to relate to people when discussing the issue.

Inka Weissbecker (ed.): Climate Change and Human Well-Being: Global Challenges and Opportunities, Springer 2011, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9742-5
Climate change is increasing the severity of disasters and adverse weather conditions worldwide, with particularly devastating effects on developing countries and on individuals with lower resources. Climate change is likely to impact mental health and psychosocial well-being via multiple pathways, leading to new challenges. This book outlines areas of impact on human well being, consider specific populations, and shed light on mitigating the impact of climate change.

Gifford, R.: “The dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation“, American Psychologist, 2011, 66(4), 290–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023566
Most people think climate change and sustainability are important problems, but too few global citizens engaged in high-greenhouse-gas-emitting behavior are engaged in enough mitigating behavior to stem the increasing flow of greenhouse gases and other environmental problems. Why is that? Structural barriers such as a climate-averse infrastructure are part of the answer, but psychological barriers also impede behavioral choices that would facilitate mitigation, adaptation, and environmental sustainability.

Roberta Maiella et al: “The Psychological Distance and Climate Change: A Systematic Review on the Mitigation and Adaptation Behaviors“, Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 11 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568899
Currently, climate change represents an existential, physical, and psychological threat. Therefore, mitigation and adaptation actions and measures have become increasingly necessary to preserve individual and collective well-being. The psychological distance is one of the main psychological constructs that explains the most concrete or abstract perception of the objects and events surrounding people. This systematic review aims to provide an update of the literature on the role of psychological distance in the commitment to engagement mitigation and adaptation attitudes toward climate change

Rachel I. McDonald et al: “Personal experience and the ‘psychological distance’ of climate change: An integrative review“, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 44, December 2015, Pages 109-118, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.10.003
Studies examining personal experiences of climate change-related events highlight the potential to encourage climate action by framing it as happening now, in your neighborhood, and affecting people like you – that is, psychologically close. We compare this literature to studies that examine psychological distance. The review reveals a disconnect: while studies of personal experience suggest merits of reducing psychological distance, other studies present a more nuanced picture in which psychological proximity does not always lead to more concern about or action on climate change.

Marie-Elodie Perga et al: “The climate change research that makes the front page: Is it fit to engage societal action?“, Global Environmental Change, Volume 80, May 2023, 102675, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.04.001
By growing awareness for and interest in climate change, media coverage enlarges the window of opportunity by which research can engage individuals and collectives in climate actions. However, we question whether the climate change research that gets mediatized is fit for this challenge. Reviewing the social psychological mechanisms that underlie behavioral change, we challenge the current criteria used to judge newsworthiness and argue that the consequent mediatization of climate change research fails to breed real society engagement in actions.

Candice Howarth et al: “Effectively Communicating Climate Science beyond Academia: Harnessing the Heterogeneity of Climate Knowledge“, One Earth, Volume 2, Issue 4, 24 April 2020, Pages 320-324, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.04.001
Approaches to communicating climate science beyond academia are necessary for enhancing salience, understanding, and engagement and accelerating action. This Primer discusses the heterogeneous manner in which climate change messaging is received by different audiences, how social scientific approaches could help to better tailor climate change messaging to this varied landscape, and how attempts to close this gap must consider the emotional and affective dimensions of climate messaging.

Kate Manzo: “The usefulness of climate change films“, Geoforum Volume 84, August 2017, Pages 88-94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.06.006
Climate change films are relevant to geographers working in sub-disciplines, such as environmental management, climate science and visual studies. This paper assesses the usefulness of climate change films in light of ongoing debates in science communication and climate change communication about the best-known and most popular movies. The paper evaluates usefulness in terms of the work that climate change films do and the methods they use.

Lucy M. Richardson, David C. Holmes (ed.): Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change, Edward Elgar Publishing 2020, https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook/edcoll/9781789900392/9781789900392.xml
International scholars survey the key disciplinary foundations of climate change communication including: climate science, audience studies, sociology, and the efficacy of diverse communication forms ranging from science communication, political communication and visual communication to film, theatre and the novel. Featuring key ideas critical to the contemporary climate discussion, such as climate denial, psychology, the use of images, journalism, campaigns, health, justice and climate change fiction, this timely Research Handbook intervenes in the global debate to offer a pathway for researchers and communicators to stimulate new methods of conceptualising and communicating climate mitigation.

Anders Hansen, Robert Cox (ed.): The Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication, Routledge 2022, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003119234
Written by leading scholars in the field, this authoritative text is a must for scholars and students of environmental communication across multiple subject areas, including environmental studies, media and communication studies, cultural studies and related disciplines.

Susanne C. Moser & Lisa Dilling: Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change, Cambridge University Press 2007, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535871
Creating a Climate for Change is a unique collection of ideas examining the challenges associated with communicating climate change in order to facilitate societal response. It offers well-founded, practical suggestions on how to communicate climate change and how to approach related social change more effectively.