Abstract
This paper considers the ways in which people’s sense of global environmental climate change and damage
is located within a range of discourses that trade upon notions of personal opinion, sense of responsibility
and behavioural change. In effect this turns such matters into lifestyle choices and preferences based upon
appeals to people in terms of attitude change and normative pressure and influence. The psychologising of
behaviour associated with climate change treats the individual as a lone agent that is receptive to
understanding and making sense of the seriousness of the issues and then changing behaviour accordingly.
However, the paper argues that the more we turn these environmental concerns into matters of opinions and
perceptions of environmental damage, the more we detract from the problematic conceptualisation of how
people relate to the environment. The environment is placed as as an entity beyond the person, something
that is external to them rather than a constructed category related to a range of discourses that are bound up
with political, social and economic concerns. By refraining from adopting a stance that presupposes neither
the reality of the environment as an essence, nor opinionative and attitudinal processes, it becomes possible
to critique approaches that turn global environmentally damaging behaviours into mattes that simply require
the right lifestyle choices to be made. It is argued that what is required is the problematisation of the
constructed relationship between self and environment if climate change is to be tackled as a global politicoeconomic
matter rather than located in local psychological discourses.
Original language | English |
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Pages | 1939 |
Number of pages | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 12 Mar 2009 |
Event | IARU International Scientific Congress on Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions - Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark Duration: 10 Mar 2009 → 12 Mar 2009 |
Other
Other | IARU International Scientific Congress on Climate Change |
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Country/Territory | Denmark |
City | Copenhagen |
Period | 10/03/09 → 12/03/09 |
Keywords
- Climate change