This book investigates the psycho-social phenomenon which is society's
failure to respond to climate change. It analyses the non-rational
dimensions of our collective paralysis in the face of worsening climate
change and environmental destruction, exploring the emotional, ethical,
social, organizational and cultural dynamics to blame for this global
lack of action.
The book features eleven research projects from four different countries
and is divided in two parts, the first highlighting novel methodologies,
the second presenting new findings. Contributors to the first part show
how a 'deep listening' approach to research can reveal the anxieties,
tensions, contradictions, frames and narratives that contribute to
people's experiences, and the many ways climate change and other
environmental risks are imagined through metaphor, imagery and dreams.
Using detailed interview extracts drawn from politicians, scientists and
activists as well as ordinary people, the second part of the book
examines the many different ways in which we both avoid and square up to
this gathering disaster, and the many faces of alarm, outrage, denial
and indifference this involves.