Abstract
The chapter gives an analysis of the shifting social discourse on climate change in Germany and the U.S. Climate Change Discourses (CCD) are defined as thematically focused coupled sequences of arguments that different social actors use in order to influence one another or their social contexts in order to improve the chances of their resource endowments, interests, and worldviews to prevail in collective decision making processes. The major change in the recent CCD is seen as a shift from a framework of understanding the Earth System to a framework of decision making under uncertainties. The traditional (and in part ideological) opposition of mitigation and adaptation policies will have give way to an optimal mix of both. The chapter gives empirical evidence for that analysis from mass media coverage, public opinion, policy making, and the business sector. This shift occurs currently more markedly in Germany than in the U.S., will probably catch up across the Atlantic soon. The final section sketches the outlines of a low-carbon society and discusses some major challenges to environmental sociology such as more systemic views, active engagement in IPCC’s working group III, risk analysis of climate solutions, critical assessments of socio-technical experiments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Keller (2005) offers an enlightening discussion of the sociological and philosophical backgrounds of modern discourse analysis, and gives some applications to debates about environmental risk. Stamou and Paraskevopoulos (2004) have analyzed images of nature in the nature tourism sector. Ereaut and Segnit (2006) have analyzed the recent British CCD in an interesting manner, but narrowed down ‘discourse’ to mass media coverage. Viehöver (2003) has also looked at the (‘old’) climate discourse, but in a broader way. Discourse analysis can highlight the embedded and contextual nature of global environmental issues, and the “constitutive role of discourses” in shaping identities and attitudes (Macnaghten and Urry 1998).
- 2.
This is why they usually appear in quotation marks.
- 3.
The global average increase in concern for global warming was 9% (from 7 to 16). In Germany, this indicator increased from 7 to 19, in the U.S. from 6 to 13, in Italy from 3 to 17, and in France from 27 to 32.
- 4.
As weather is a more stochastically characterized system – in contrast to the more deterministically characterized climate system – direct inference from single weather extremes to climate change does not hold. However, if weather extremes display a tendency (such as an increase in heat waves of storm intensity) one can even statistically relate it to climate change.
- 5.
The environmental ministry is actually headed by a Social Democrat (Sigmar Gabriel). The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has come under pressure from the Left party (as a merger from former Democratic Socialists from the East, and left-wing Social Democrats from the West), and ‘social justice’ – which used to be a ancient SPD issue – has now become a contested political area. It seems as if environmental justice – an U.S. issue mainly related to the allocation of environmental bads to minority groups – is now emerging in the German context, and with new meanings (Schlüns 2007).
- 6.
This became clear during the 2007 G8 summit at Heiligendamm, where climate change was a major issue. She installed a small climate advisory group directly linked to her Chancellor office. And she publicly communicated the scientifically based idea of ‘global carbon justice’, i.e. the target of 2 t of GHG emissions per person in 2050, regardless where that person lives.
- 7.
There is a parallel, but less ambitious goal at the European Union level. The German climate policy package is termed after a castle north of Berlin where a government conference first decided about the outlines of the program. Important parts of the program had taken all political hurdles early in 2008. Others are subject to negotiations, e.g., those relating to car fleet emissions.
- 8.
The total net investment sum of the German economy in 2005 was about €70 billion. Germany’s net investment rate since the early 1990s has been very low compared to international standards.
- 9.
The carbon footprint includes six greenhouse gases. The use phase will not be assessed, as it resides with the consumer’s behavior. In 2007, the British Carbon Trust had launched a CO2 label, and Tesco, Britain’s largest retailer, followed suit.
- 10.
At the press conferences, IPCC scientists – and especially Randra Pachauri, IPCC’s chair – did take the opportunity to take one step away from the official and rather neutral language of the report, and acted as interpreters of their own results. This has led some critical observers to conclude that IPCC was supporting alarmism (Hulme 2006). A more thorough interpretation of the latest trends in the scientific CCD, however, reveals that an alarming language is consistent with recent findings and inherent uncertainties (Risbey 2008, cf. Walker and King 2008).
- 11.
Egner (2007) uses a Luhman approach and argues that the first (necessary) condition would also be a sufficient one. Her analysis suffers not only from the empirical weaknesses of Luhmann’s ‘thin descriptions’ of the modern economy (for a better one see Beckert 2007). It also ignores that climate economists preceding Stern‘s Review did conclude exactly the opposite. Climate protection was assumed to be too expensive (Nordhaus 2007).
- 12.
The economic ‘think tank’ of Germany’s Deutsche Bank has identified winner and loser branches of both climate change and climate policy. The renewable energy as well as the construction sector are evaluated as ‘double winners’, while the fossil energy or the traffic sector are seen as ‘double losers’ (DB Research 2007).
- 13.
The European summer heat wave of 2003 has led to about 70,000 additional deaths. It can be demonstrated statistically that it is much more plausible to assume that this singular weather extreme event has been a consequence of anthropogenic climate change than to assume that it was a ‘normal accident’ under the historic climate regime (Beniston and Diaz 2004).
- 14.
It is worth noting that the GMT difference between the 1960–1990 climate and the last ice age was about 4–6°C – only in the other direction. Relatively small average temperature changes mask major changes in the state of the Earth System.
- 15.
The claim that big and growing developing countries like India and China would have to enter a binding agreement on emissions reductions, for example, is a reasonable one. Nevertheless the Bush administration lost its credibility to developing countries due to its unwillingness to accept such obligations, and to start reducing immediately, according to a contraction-and-convergence regime.
- 16.
Again, I am aware of the stylized character of this distinction, which does not fully do justice to the complexity of thoughts than many colleagues share. Most characterizations only apply to the work of environmental sociologists in the developed world. However, we as sociologists must not complain if one of our methodological battle horses – Max Weber’s concept of ideal types – is used in order to describe our own work. It simply is a social fact on top of all the others known. Given the stylized character of my distinction, I will by and large refrain from giving references.
- 17.
If economic stylizations lead the way, quantitatively oriented environmental sociology can also follow the rational actor paradigm.
- 18.
The fate of bio-fuels in the public discourse in Germany in 2008 is a good example here. For quite a long time, bio-fuels have been regarded by many experts, corporations, and policymakers as the ‘silver bullet’ with regard to climate neutral mobility. A particularly attractive aspect of bio-fuels has been their rather close technological fit to existing internal combustion engines. However, as many scientists had warned, non-sustainable use of bio-fuels (e.g., in terms of competition for land originally dedicated to food or biodiversity conservation purposes) is well possible, did occur, and was vividly debated in the mass media. As a consequence, the German government had to postpone (if not abandon) its bio-fuel strategy. Another example would be the side-effects of wind power plants, or their vulnerability in case of climate change induced increase in European winter storms.
- 19.
The so-called New Economic Sociology offers some very promising theoretical concepts and empirical studies that environmental sociologists should definitely capitalize on.
References
Beckert J (2007). The social order of markets. Cologne: MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/15
Boykoff MT (2007) Changing patterns in climate change reporting in United States and UK media. (Paper presented at the Carbonundrums Workshop, 27 June 2007, Oxford)
Boykoff MT, Boykoff JM (2004) Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Global Environ Change 14:125–136
Brown HS, Vergragt PJ (2008) Bounded socio-technical experiments as agents of systemic change: the case of a zero-energy residential building. Technol Forecast Soc Change 75:107–130
CCX (2008) CCX Market Report, 5(1), January 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2008, from http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/docs/publications/CCX_carbonmkt_V5_i1_jan2008.pdf
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2007) Climate change, The Synthesis Report. Retrieved May 2, 2007, from http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf
den Elzen M, Meinshausen M, van Vuuren D (2007) Multi-gas emission envelopes to meet greenhouse gas concentration targets: Costs versus certainty of limiting temperature increase. Global Environ Change Hum Policy Dimens 17(2):260–280
Edwards PN (1999) Global climate science, uncertainty and politics: data-laden models, model filtered data. Sci Cult 8(12):437–472
Egner H (2007) Überraschender Zufall oder gelungene wissenschaftliche Kommunikation: wie kam der Klimawandel in die aktuelle Debatte? GAIA 16(4):250–254
Epstein MJ (2008) Making sustainability work: best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Greenleaf Publishing, Ltd., Sheffield/San Francisco, CA
Ereaut G, Segnit N (2006) Warm words: how are we telling the climate story and can we tell it better? Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), London
Fairclough N (1992) Discourse and social change. Polity Press, Cambridge
Fairclough N (1995) Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language. Longman, London
Giddens A (1984) The constitution of society: outline of a theory of structuration. Polity Press, Cambridge
Gross M, Krohn W (2005) Society as experiment: sociological foundations for a self-experimental society. Hist Hum Sci 18(2):63–86
Grundmann R (2006) Ozone and climate: scientific consensus and leadership. Sci Technol Hum Values 31(1):73–101
Grundmann R (2007) Climate change and knowledge politics. Environ Polit 16(3):414–432
Haas PM (1992) Introduction: epistemic communities and international policy coordination. Int Organ 46(1):1–35
Hall S (2005) Representation: cultural representation and signifying practice. Sage, London
Hulme M (2006) Chaotic world of climate truth. BBC News, 4 November. Retrieved November 12, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6115644.stmi
Jaeger CC, Renn O, Rosa EA, Webler T (2001) Risk, uncertainty, and rational action. Earthscan, London/Sterling, VA
Jasanoff S (2003) States of knowledge: the co-production of science and social order. Routledge, London
Keller R (2005) Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse. Grundlegung eines Forschungsprogramms. Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden
Laszlo C (2008) Sustainable value: how the world’s leading companies are doing well by doing good. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA
Lehr U, Nitsch J, Kratzat M, Lutz C, Edler D (2008) Renewable energy and employment in Germany. Energy Policy 36:108–117
Leiserowitz AA (2003) Global warming in the American mind: the role of affect, imagery, and worldviews in risk perception, policy preference and behavior. Dissertation, University of Oregon
Lever-Tracy C (2008) Global warming and sociology. Curr Sociol 56(3):445–466
Macnaghten P, Urry J (1998) Contested nature. Sage, London
McCright AM, Dunlap RE (2003) Defeating Kyoto: the conservative movement’s impact on U.S. climate change policy. Soc Probls 50(3):348–373
Miller JD (2004) Public understanding of, and attitudes toward, scientific research: what we know and what we need to know. Public Underst Sci 13:273–294
Miller CA, Edwards PN (2001) The globalization of climate science and climate politics. In: Miller CA, Edwards PN (eds) Changing the atmosphere. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA/London, pp 1–29
Moser SC, Dilling L (eds) (2008) Creating a climate for change: communicating climate change and facilitating social change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Nielsen AC (2007) ACNielsen global consumer confidence and opinions survey. AC Nielsen, London
Nordhaus W (2007) Critical assumptions in the stern review on climate change. Science 317:201–202
Obama B (2009) Speech at the Town Hall Meeting, Los Angeles, California, March 19, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/obama-gives-24bn-jump-start-to-battery-makers/
Redclift M (2009) The environment and carbon dependence: landscapes of sustainability and materiality. Curr Sociol 57(3):369–387
Reich RB (2007) Supercapitalism: the transformation of business, democracy, and everyday life. Alfred A, Knopf/New York
DB Research (2007) Klimawandel und Branchen. Manche mögen’s heiß! Aktuelle Themen 388, 4 June 2007. DB Research, Frankfurt
Reusswig F, Schwarzkopf J, Pohlenz P (2004) Double impact. The climate blockbuster ‘the day after tomorrow’ and its impact on the German public. Potsdam: PIK-Report No. 92. Retrieved May 3, 2005, from http://www.pik-potsdam.de/pik_web/publications/pik_reports/reports/pr.92/pr92.pdf
Risbey JS (2008) The new climate discourse: alarmist or alarming? Global Environ Change 18:26–37
Schaltegger S, Wagner M (eds) (2006) Managing the business case for sustainability: the integration of social, environmental and economic performance. Greenleaf Publishing, Ltd., Sheffield
Schlüns J (2007) Umweltbezogene Gerechtigkeit in Deutschland. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 24:25–30
Shellenberger M, Nordhaus T (2004) The death of environmentalism. Global warming politics in a post-environmental world. Retrieved May 2, 2005, from http://thebreakthrough.org/PDF/Death_of_Environmentalism.pdf
Stamou AG, Paraskevopoulos S (2004) Images of nature by tourism and environmentalist discourses in visitors books: a critical discourse analysis of ecotourism. Discourse Soc 15(1):105–129
Stern N (2007) The economics of climate change – the Stern review. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Tol R (2006) The Stern review of the economics of climate change: a comment. Energy Environ 17(6):977–981
BMU (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit) (2008) Wachstum, Beschäftigung und Klimaschutz. Grundsatzpapier zur Investitionskonferenz des Bundesumweltministeriums. Berlin, 9 June 2008
Viehöver W (2003) Die Wissenschaft und die Wiederverzauberung des sublunaren Raumes. Der Klimadiskurs im Licht der narrativen Diskursanalyse. In: Keller R, Hirseland A, Schneider W, Viehöver W (eds) Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftliche Diskursanalyse 2. Forschungspraxis. Leske + Budrich, Opladen, pp 233–267
Walker G, King Sir D (2008) The hot topic: what we can do about global warming. Harcourt, Orlando, FL
Weart SR (2003) The discovery of global warming. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Weingart P, Engels A, Pansegrau P (2007) Von der Hypothese zur Katastrophe. Der anthropogene Klimawandel im Diskurs zwischen Wissenschaft, Politik und Massenmedien. Leske + Budrich, Opladen
White House (2009) Energy and Environment. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/energy_and_environment/
BBC (BBC World Service) (2007) All countries need to take major steps on climate change: clobal poll. Retrieved October 12, 2008, from http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/sep07/BBCClimate_Sep07_rpt.pdf
Beniston M, Diaz HF (2004) The 2003 heat wave as an example of summers in a greenhouse climate? Observations and climate model simulations for Basel, Switzerland. Global Planet Change 44:73–81
Zebisch M, Grothmann T, Schröter D, Hasse C, Fritsch U, Cramer W (2005) Climate change in Germany – Vulnerability and adaption of climate sensitive sectors. Dessau: Umweltbundesamt Publications No. 10 (2005)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reusswig, F. (2010). The New Climate Change Discourse: A Challenge for Environmental Sociology. In: Gross, M., Heinrichs, H. (eds) Environmental Sociology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8730-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8730-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8729-4
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-8730-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)