Index

acceptance of a climate change world, 215–8 adaptation to climate change, 29–31 adaptive coping strategies, 121 Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, 105–6 advertising, 82, 87, 93, 124, 133 see also marketing; PR (public relations) and the coal industry, 83 creates symbolic association in place of product merits, 67 role in the consumer society, 70 aerosols, 12, 22, 28, 179, 183, 229(fn) see also sulphate aerosols affl uence, 42–6, 100, 218, 224 see also consumerism and immortality, 215–17 Against Nature, 115 Agenda 21, 100 the Ages of Gaia, 150 agriculture, 17 air pollution, 83 and global aviation, 176 masking global warming, 12, 22, 28 reduction of allowing increased radiation to reach Earth, 176 albedo (Earth’s ability to refl ect radiation), 175, 176, 179, 181 alchemy, 141–3 Amazon rainforest, 10, 25 American Electric Power, 168 American Enterprise Institute, 184 American National Mining Association, 127 Anderson, Kevin and Bows, Alice (Tyndall

Centre for Climate Change Research (UK)), 15–21, 22, 193, 194, 196 Antarctic Treaty (1959), 187 anthropogenic emissions see human activity and climate change apathy, 129, 213 APCO (PR company), 100 Aquinas, Thomas, 138–9, 150 Archer, David (University of Chicago), 9 Arctic in ‘death spiral’, 3 melting of, 1, 12, 25, 28, 194 warming of, 10, 23 ‘astroturfi ng,’ 105 atmospheric carbon levels, 11–13, 15–23, 27, 182, 185, 194 see also effect of rising global temperature and implications of elevated, 21–3 not to exceed a trillion tonnes for twodegree target, 194 thresholds, 45–6, 50–1, 54–5 Attenborough, David, 136 Australian government, 51

274

avoidance through ridicule (maladaptive coping strategy), 123–5

Bacon, Francis, 137 Bali Climate Change Conference (2007), 13 Bangladesh, 199 barriers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions see climate change denial; consumerism baseload power myth, 168–71 Becker, Ernest, 215 Beckerman, Wilfred (economist), 40 Berlusconi, Silvio (Italian Prime Minister), 112 Berman, Morris, 218 biomass (energy source), 164, 171 Blair Government, 51, 57 blame shifting (maladaptive coping strategy), 126–8 Boyle, Robert, 140–1, 179 brand names and children, 88 Brazil, 5, 89 British Conservative Party, 111, 224 British Labour Government (New

Labour), 111, 224 Broecker, Wallace (geoscientist), 62 Brown, Gordon, 160 Brown, Harrison, 177 Brundtland Report (1987), 40, 82 Buddhism, 153 bulverism, 97–8 Bush, George W., 34–5, 39, 51, 104

Calvinism, 144 Cameron, David (Leader British

Conservative Party), 111 capitalism see also economic growth characterised by technological hubris, 163 and China, 92–3 environmentalists a threat to according to conservatives, 115 and growth of, 35–6 and the Protestant ethic, 144, 218 requires constant consumer dissatisfaction, 71 threatening the world it promised to create, 209 carbon capture and storage (CCS), 83, 159–67, 171 enjoys signifi cant political support, 160–1 enormous scale of enterprise, 162–3 private sector reluctant to invest in, 161–2 receives signifi cant public funding, 161, 167 carbon cycle, 8–11 climate engineering ignores complexity of, 176–7, 186 carbon dioxide, 10, 11, 82, 181, 194 see also carbon capture and storage (CCS); climate engineering; greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by oceans, 176 remains in atmosphere for 1000 years, 195 total stock in forests, 17 carbon dioxide equivalents, 11–12, 227–9 carbon emissions see greenhouse gas emissions carbon levels see atmospheric carbon levels Carson, Rachel, 35 Casals, Pablo, 222 Cassandra and Apollo, xi causes of climate change, xii, 158 affl uence, 42–5 an irrational obsession with economic growth, 62–5 corporations and governments mostly responsible, 79 fossil fuel lobby, 118 overreach of scientifi c-industrial revolution, 146 systemic factors, 80, 107 China and air pollution, 22

Communist Party of, 90–1, 93 and construction of coal-fi red power plants, 160 consumers still saving, 93 and emissions growth, 89 and greenhouse gas emissions, 4–5 and growth of consumption, 88–94 as scapegoat for carbon emissions, 127 Christian fundamentalists, 106, 117, 127, 130

275

civil disobedience and a revived democracy, 222–6 Clarkson, Jeremy and climate change ridicule, 123–6 ‘clean coal’ see carbon capture and storage (CCS) climate change causes of (see causes of climate change) a challenge to human beliefs, 31 denial (see climate change denial) and economic growth (see economic growth) a failure of modern politics, 223 feedback mechanisms and, 9–11 happening too fast for species adaptation, 202 implications for other species, 30 irreversibility of, 14–15, 25 living with (see living in a climate change world) non-linear nature of climate variables, 24–5 politicising of (see politicising of climate change) politics of characterised by a ‘don’t scare the horses’ approach, 217 psychological responses to, 95–8, 118–33 requires collective solutions, 79 and role of population and consumption, 42–5 scientifi c evidence for, 1–31 a unique problem, x, 14 worsening of, ix, xiii, 1–8 climate change denial, x, 95–133 climate change effects see effect of rising global temperature; impact of 4 degrees warming climate change mitigation costs of see costs of climate change mitigation and economic growth, 38–42 effi cacy of existing technological solutions, 159–89 (see also carbon capture and storage (CCS); climate engineering; renewable energy sources) and emissions budget approach, 194–6 and environmentalists’ faith in a market

solution, 168 and lack of political leadership, 173 myth of adaptation, 29–31 myth of stabilisation, 23–9 need for urgency, 168 need to consume less, 84–5 need to reconnect with nature, 136 opposition to (see conservative backlash against climate science)

‘overshooting’ strategy, 26–7 and population policy, 42–3 and reducing consumption, 84–6 and reducing working hours, 86–7 and technology as a solution, 42–9, 158–89 climate change scepticism, ix, 6–7, 98, 184, 188 see also climate change denial and Christian fundamentalists, 106 and cognitive dissonance, 96 and the far left, 113–17 and PR, 106, 119 and relationship to personal values and political ideology, 102, 104, 107, 111–13 strongest in the US, 120 climate change ‘sceptics’

Bachmann, Michele (Republican Congresswoman), 106–7

Clarkson, Jeremy, 123–6

Duffy, Michael, 116

Dyson, Freeman, 101

Jastrow, Robert, 101, 103

Krauthammer, Charles, 116

Michaels, Patrick, 184

Nierenberg, William, 101, 103

Phillips, Melanie, 116

Plimer, Ian, 117

Ray, Dixie Lee, 100, 113–14

Seitz, Frederick (chief scientist at R J Reynolds), 100–3, 106

Singer, Fred, 184

Steyn, Mark, 116

Teller, Edward, 183–8

Wood, Lowell, 183–8 Climate Code Red (David Spratt and

Philip Sutton), 190 climate engineering, 5, 159, 174–89 addresses symptoms not causes, 178–82

276

argument for at odds with denial of climate change, 184–5 demented behaviour, 179 and international political concerns, 182 is being given serious consideration, 178–9 and military research scientists, 183–4, 186 a ‘moral hazard,’ 185–6 and spreading lime on oceans, 179 trivial cost of, 178, 186 and urgent need for a preventative legal framework, 187–8 Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn’t Worry

About Global Warming (Moore,

Thomas Gale), 184 climate science, 1–31, 188, 190–208 attacked by conservatives, 98–107, 117, 125 attacks have shattered public consensus, 107 misunderstood by conservative critics, 62 and the need for urgent action, 11–15 psychological implications of, 121, 212–13, 217 Climate Wars (Gwynne Dyer), 190–1 Clinton, Bill, 35, 39, 107 Club of Rome, 36 coal, 5, 8, 20, 148, 168 see also carbon capture and storage (CCS) and climate engineering, 177, 179 estimate of reserves, 159 coal-fi red power stations, 169, 172, 175, 177 and carbon capture and storage (CCS), 83, 160–7 and China, 90, 127 and civil disobedience, 225 and PR, 80, 82 coal industry, 41, 159 see also carbon capture and storage (CCS); fossil fuel lobby and ‘clean coal’, 83 and greenwash, 83 coal lobby see fossil fuel lobby cognitive dissonance, 95–8, 101 Competitive Enterprise Institute, 184 conservative backlash against climate science, 98–107 see also politicising of climate change and Exxon (Mobil), 104 and George Bush (Snr), 99 and need for post-communist opponents, 98–9

‘Republican war on science’, 104 and science-based environmentalism, 101 and Stern Report, 56–62 and support for climate engineering, 182–9 consumer capitalism, 71 the consumer corporation, 66–9 consumerism, 66–94 see also green consumerism; marketing and children, 87–8 in China, 88–94 and the consumer corporation, 66–9 and the consumer self, 66–75, 81, 92 and debt, 71, 73–4 and ‘democratisation of luxury’, 68 differences between Europe and US, 72–3 and the global fi nancial crisis (GFC), 84–7 and implications for climate change, 74–5 indistinguishable from profl igacy, 68 and individual identity, 66, 70 morality of, 76–7 psychology of, 66, 69–75 unsustainable, 79

WALL-E (2008 fi lm), 46–7 wasteful consumption, 75–7 consumer revolution, 66 the consumer self, 66–75, 81, 92 consumption see consumerism consumption society see consumerism Convention on the Prohibition of

Military and Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modifi cation

Techniques (ENMOD) (1976), 187 Copenhagen Conference, x, 2, 22, 56, 208, coping strategies see living in a climate change world; maladaptive coping strategies

277

the corporation, 75–7 costs of climate change mitigation, 26, 49–51, 64 carbon capture and storage (CCS), 164 and climate engineering, 178, 186 and coastal protection, 199 the focus of political debate, 173 and Garnaut Report, 55 and Nordhaus, 60–2 and nuclear power, 172 and renewable energy and natural gas options, 167, 170, 173 and Stern Report, 51–2, 54–5, 57–8, 63 will not bring economic ruin, 63 creationists, 101, 117 Croll, Elizabeth, 91, 92 Crompton, Tom, 121, 127, 157 Crutzen, Paul (German atmospheric chemist), 178–9

Daisyworld model and Gaia hypothesis, 149 the dead Earth, 137, 146 dealing with climate change disruption see living in a climate change world death, 48, 128, 154 and anxiety, 119 of the future, 212 human response to, 215–17 of nature, 136–41 and personal identity, 74 decathexis, 212 defence mechanisms (maladaptive coping strategy), 121–3 deforestation, 9–11, 17, 20, 21, 202 democracy, 111, 222–6 equated with the market, 59–60 has been corrupted, 223–4 implications for in individualising environmental solutions, 80 its limitations in dealing with crisis, 207 and need for a new radicalism, 225 and need for vigorous political engagement, 222 and social order, 206–7 denial of climate change, x, 95–133 Derham, William, 141 Descartes, René, 137–8, 150 despair in a climate change world, 209–14 disconnection from nature, 47–8, 134–58 the death of nature, 136–41 and the emergence of the individual (self), 134–6, 152–8 and mechanical philosophy, 136–52 through technology, 47–8 disconnection from reality (maladaptive coping strategy), 133 distancing (psychological defence mechanism), 122–3 distraction (psychological defence mechanism), 121–2 domination of nature, 102, 222 see also mechanical philosophy; rejection of the domination of nature belief in the right to infi nite resource exploitation, 38 and climate engineering, 184, 186, 188–9 a conceit, 139–40 a conservative belief, 102 and the dead Earth, 137, 146 a duty, 103 environmentalism seen as threat to, 100–1 philosophical and political justifi cation for exploitation of Earth’s resources, 143–5 and Prometheus myth, 145, 158 dose-response, 1 Durkin, Martin (director of The Great

Global Warming Swindle), 114–15 dystopia, 209

Earth Institute, 160 Earth Summit (Rio 1992), 99 Ecological Debt Day, 32 ecology, 145 economic growth, xiii, 32–65 see also consumerism an object in its own right, 52 and the cost of climate change mitigation, 49–51 as a fetish, 32–8 has attained symbolic meaning in affl uent countries, 64 importance in reducing poverty, 32

278

irrational obsession with prevents action on climate change, 62–5

Keynes’ vision for, 86 as a means to improve living standards, 64–5 a monolithic system, 48–9 and move from production to consumption society (see production society) need to moderate, 37 the problem not the solution, 53 as progress, 34–5 response to by environmentalists to, 41 sacrosanct, 53 as a solution to global warming, 38–42 sustained by unhappiness, 71 symbolises modernity, 65 Economic Possibilities for Our

Grandchildren (Keynes), 86 economics see also free market its conceit and imperialism, 59–60 and Stern Report, 51–6 the Economist, 71 view on carbon capture and storage (CCS), 161, 166 economists as idiots savants, 59 the economy see economic growth; free market effect of rising global temperature, 6–7, 10, 12 see also impact of 4 degrees warming danger zone for, 12 2 degrees warming the most likely scenario, 192 2 degrees an unachievable limit, 192 Eliade, Mircea, 220–1 ‘emissions budget’ approach to abatement, 194–6 ‘end of ideology’ and ‘Thatcher-Clinton doctrine,’ 35 entropy, 148 environment see also green consumerism affl uence and protection of, 39–41 belief it can be controlled, 118

Judith Wright’s expression of despair for, 151 and Kuznets Curve, 39–40 men less concerned about than women or minorities, 124

modifi cation of, 30, 47 (see also climate engineering) privatisation of, 54 and relationship to the individual, 152–7 separation from creates an idealised view of nature, 135 environmentalism, 112, 154 catalyst for climate scepticism, 104 challenges concepts of progress and domination of nature, 100–1 a challenge to conservative values, 36, 100, 107–8 and correlation with certain personality traits, 157 and the far left, 113–15 its basis in science a contradiction for conservative backlash, 101 and James Lovelock, 151 and reconnection with nature, 134 and science, 38, 99, 104 Environmental Overkill, 100 E.ON (coal-fi red power plants owner), xv, 79–80, 167 and greenwash, 82–3 Essays on the Principle of Population (Malthus), 43–4 European Union and two-degree target, 194 evidence of climate change worsening, ix, xiii, 1–15

‘worst-case scenario’ (A1FI), xi, 6–8 exploitation of nature see domination of nature Exxon (Mobil), xv, 104, 106, 184

false hope (maladaptive coping strategy), 128–33 far left wing analysis of climate change, 113–16 feedback mechanisms, 1–3, 9–12, 23–6, 37 Festinger, Leon (psychologist), 95–6 fetishism, growth, 32–8 Fixing Climate (Kunzig, Robert and

Broecker, Wallace), 177 fossil fuel industry and climate engineering, 185 fossil fuel lobby, xv, 51, 106, 118, 166, 208

279

Fox News, 111 Framework Convention on Climate

Change (1992), 12, 23, 99, 193 a Free Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received

Notion of Nature (Robert Boyle), 140–1 free market, 107, 164, 167 see also consumerism; economic growth backlash against Stern Report, 56–62 based on economics that expunges humans, 58–9 based on esoteric mathematics, 59 conservatives fear its destruction by environmentalists, 97 and environmentalists’ faith in, 168 equates market behaviour with democracy, 60 rejects non-market decision-making, 59 and self-interest, 155 free market economics, 40, 77 Freud, Sigmund, 121 Fu Hongchun (East China Normal

University, Shanghai), 92 fundamentalists, 106, 117, 127, 130 Furedi, Frank, 114

Gaia, 221 Gaia hypothesis, 128, 147–52, 180

Daisyworld model, 149 Galbraith, John Kenneth, 59 gallows humour, role of, 214 Garnaut Report, 24, 26, 178 assessment of economic costs of abatement, 55 GDP (gross domestic product), xiv, 32–64, 85, 99 General Motors, xv and greenwash, 83–4 George C Marshall Institute, 103–4, 184 George Edward Challenger (A. Conan

Doyle fi ctional character), 188–9 German Social Democratic Party, 112 global fi nancial crisis, 1, 5, 23 implications for consumption, 84–7 global warming see climate change global warming abatement see climate change mitigation God, the clockmaker, 140 Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2 Goethe, Johann, 138, 139 Gore, Al, 61 Great Barrier Reef, 179 the Great Global Warming Swindle, 114–16 Greek myths

Achilles and Hector, 180

Cassandra and Apollo, xi

Hubris and Nemesis, 180

Pandora, 128–9, 145

Pollyanna, xi, xiii

Prometheus, 145, 158 green consumerism, 77–81 entrenches consumer lifestyle, 81 has little effect, 78 shifts responsibility from main culprits, 78 greenhouse fatigue, 121 greenhouse gas emissions see also climate change; non-carbon emissions and assessment of optimistic reduction path scenario, 15–21 climate engineering attempt to decouple global warming from growth in, 180 cumulative amounts crucial, 194 developed economies and, 4–5 developed nations responsible for 75% of, 89 developing economies and, 4–5 difference between France and US, 77 factors contributing to growth of, 19 historical precedents for reduction of, 19–20 increasing, 1 last longer than nuclear waste, 9 peak emissions year crucial, 195–6 rate of reductions crucial, 195–6 rates of increase of, 4 remain in the atmosphere long-term, 5, 25, 195 sources of, 16–17 greenhouse gases, 11–12, 227–9 Greenland icesheet destabilising of, 3 formation of, 13 melting of, 7–8, 12, 15, 25, 28, 198 Greenpeace, 225 greenwash, 81–4 see also advertising; marketing; PR (public relations)

280

grieving process, 211–12, 213–14 gross domestic product (GDP), xiii, 32–64, 85, 99 Group of Eight, adopts two-degree target, 23–4, 193 growth, 32–65 see also economic growth growth fetishism, 32–8 an ideology, 223

Hansen, James, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14 happiness and consumption, 35, 71, 88, 90 Heartland Institute, 184 Heaven and Earth (Plimer, Ian), 117 Heritage Foundation, 100 Hermetic philosophy, and nature, 136, 141–3 Himalayan-Tibetan glaciers, 28, 194 Holdren, John (Obama science adviser), 178 Hoover Institution, 184 ‘Hopenhagen,’ 133 Howard, John, 51 hubris, xi, 31, 35, 180, 210 and carbon capture and storage (CCS), 162–3 human activity and climate change, 8–9, 11, 15, 17, 174, 194 human disconnection from nature see disconnection from nature human mastery of nature see domination of nature hyper-consumerism, 69 and children, 87–8

identity see self ideology consumption versus production, 91 and cultural identity, 108 and the current political process, 224 end of, 35 of growth fetishism, 223 reinforced by institutions, 118 will become subordinated to climate change, 209 impact of 4 degrees warming, 190–208 see also effect of rising global temperature

continuous transformation may be required, 206 deforestation and increased fi re, 202–3 implications for democracy, 207 implications for social order, 206–7 on migration, 204–5 most ice melts, 193–4 poor and vulnerable most affected, 201, 204 reduced need for heating in colder climates, 201 represents hottest time in last 25 million years when planet was virtually ice-free, 192 on sea-levels, 197–200 sea levels 50 metres higher, 193 some form of human adaptation will have to occur, 204 on species migration, 201–2 on water supply, 200–1 In Defence of Economic Growth, 40 independent self-construal, 152–8 India, 5, 22, 89 ‘individualisation’, 70 industrial progress and transformation of the physical environment, 209 industrial revolution, 66, 136, 146, 158 interdependent self-construal, 152–8 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC), 11 conservative and understated by nature, 3 and economic costs of emission abatement, 50–1

Fourth Assessment Report (2007), 7, 198 and ‘stabilisation’ approach, 26

Third Assessment Report (2001), 6

‘worst-case scenario’ (A1FI), 6–8 International Climate Conference: 4 Degrees and Beyond (Oxford

University 2009) see impact of 4 degrees warming International Climate Conference: 4 Degrees and Beyond (Oxford

University 2009), contributors

Allen, Myles (University of Oxford), 194–5

Anderson, Kevin (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research), 193, 195, 196

281

Arnell, Nigel Professor (University of Reading), 200, 201

Gemenne, François, 204–5

Guillaume, Bertrand, 207

Karoly, David, Professor (University of Melbourne), 202–3

Liverman, Diana, Professor (Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University), 208

Malhi, Yadvinder, Professor (Oxford University), 201–2

New, Mark (University of Oxford), 191

Nicholls, Robert (University of Southampton), 198

Rahmstorf, Stefan (Professor Ocean Physics, Potsdam University), 198, 200

Schellnhuber, Hans (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), 193, 195, 197, 201

Thornton, Phillip, 201

Vellinga, Pier (Wageningen University, Netherlands), 197–8, 199 International Energy Agency (IEA), 162, 172 irreversibility of climate change, xi, 12, 14–15, 25, 55, Irwin, Steve, 135

Jackson, Tim (University of Surrey), 45 Journal of Geophysical Research, 177

Kasser, Tim, 118, 121, 127, 157, 216, 218 Keeling, Charles David, 177 Keith, David (University of Calgary), 47 Keynes, John Maynard, 64, 66

Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren, 86 King, David (UK chief scientist), 26, 55 Kingsnorth coal-fi red power plant, 225 Krakatoa eruption, 181 Kuznets Curve, 40 Kyoto Protocol, 39, 51, 108, 126

Lahsen, Myanna, 101–3 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 183 Leontief, Wassily, 59 Leiserowitz, Anthony, 108, 109, 123 Lertzman, Renée, 129 Limbaugh, Rush, 111 the Limits to Growth, 36–8 a challenge to deeply held Western values, 37–8 living earth, 139, 142, 146 and Gaia hypothesis, 147–50 living in a climate change world, ix–x, xii, 209–26 acceptance of, 215–18 action through political engagement, 222–6

‘death’ of the future, 212 despair, 209–14 and the human response to death, 215–17 need to reassess the future, 209–13 potential for emergence of new values, 217–18 psychologically destabilising, 222 reconceptualising the Earth, 219–20 re-evaluating the meaning of life, 218–22 and the self in, 201–14, 215–18, 223–4 Living Marxism (LM Magazine), 113 lobbying, xv, 106, 118, 160, 187–8 cheaper to lobby than to invest in research and development, 162 and corruption of democracy, 223–4 Lomborg, Bjorn, 6–7, 38, 41 Lovelock, James (Gaia hypothesis), 128, 147–52 contemptuous of environmentalism, 151 Lovins, Amery, 172–3 Lutz, Bob (vice-chairman General

Motors), 84 ‘luxury emissions’, 76, 89 ‘luxury fever’, 68

maladaptive coping strategies, 118–33 avoidance through ridicule, 123–5 blame shifting, 126–8 defence mechanisms, 121–3 false hope, 128–33 Maldives, 30 Malthusian theory, 43–4 Maniates, Michael, 79–80 manipulating the atmosphere see climate engineering

282

Marian Keech (Sananda cult), 95–6 market forces see free market marketing, 67, 68, 74, 160 see also advertising; PR and children, 87–8 as greenwash, 81–4 mastery of nature see domination of nature materialism, 34–5 meaning to be found in commitment to progress, technology and consumption, 221 mechanical philosophy, 136–52 see also disconnection from nature; domination of nature created a divide between the human and non-human world, 152

Earth rendered dead, 137 and emergence of the modern world, 141–5 and exploitation of Earth’s resources, 143–5 gave rise to forces contributing to climate change, 140 romantic movement a reaction against, 137 and Scholasticism, 138 separation of the spiritual from the physical, 137 underpinned by commercial and religious forces, 143–5 Merkel, Angela (German Chancellor), 111, 160, 197 metapersonal self-construal, 152–8 methane (greenhouse gas), 10, 11, 17 migration (climate refugees), 30, 151, 191 militant atheism, 222 military-industrial complex, 102, 184 Mill, John Stuart, 64 modernity, 65, 218–21 see also progress built on science, 103 and China, 93 and consumer brand, 92 and consumption, 44, 65, 152 defi ned by progress and the domination of nature, 100 emerges through mechanical philosophy, 138–45

environmentalism and climate change seen as threat to, 31, 100–1, 222 its foundation beliefs, 210 and the sense of self, 74, 152 and technology, 180 Monbiot, George, 105–6 Moon Treaty, 187 ‘moral hazard’ and climate engineering, 185–6 Mount Pinatubo, eruption of, 175 Murtaugh, Paul, 42–3 myth of adaptation to climate change, 29–31 myth of stabilisation of climate change, 23–9

NASA, 2, 3 National Space Society, 47 national wellbeing and GDP, 63 natural gas, 8, 20, 163, 168, 170, 173 nature see also disconnection from nature; domination of nature; mechanical philosophy; the self death of, 136–41

Hermetic philosophy and, 136, 141–3 human fear of, 118 is forcing a reassessment of our future, 210–1 and Newton, 141–3 reassertion of its power, 221 negative feedback (offsetting) see feedback mechanisms Newton, Isaac, 141–3, 220 nitrous oxide (greenhouse gas), 11, 17, 83 non-carbon emissions, 10, 11, 17–18, 227–9 and agriculture, 17 and aviation and shipping, 22 and population growth, 17 Nordhaus, William (economist) and response to Stern Report, 57–62 cost assessment of mitigation, 61–2 misunderstands climate science, 62 Norgaard, Kari Marie, 126, 129 nuclear, 171–3

Obama, Barack, 100, 107, 160, 161, 178 obstacles to change, institutional and cultural, 3

283

ocean acidity, 176 offsetting (negative feedback) see feedback mechanisms O’Neill, Brendan (editor of Spiked ), 114–16 opposition to action on global warming see conservative backlash against climate science optimism, x, 129–33 over-consumption and its psychological costs, 72 and the storage industry, 71–2 ‘overshooting’ strategy (for climate change mitigation), 26–7 physically impossible, 195

paleoclimatology, 2, 13, 24 shows small temperature changes are associated with large sea-level rises, 197–8 Pandora myth, 128–9 Peabody, xv personal identity see self personalising responsibility for climate change action, 79–81 personal values and attitudes to climate change see values and political ideology and attitudes to climate change pessimism, 130–1, 214 Philip Morris, 104, 106 philosophers and writers and the mechanical philosophy

Aquinas, Thomas, 138–9

Bacon, Francis, 137

Boyle, Robert, 140–1, 179

Descartes, René, 137–8

Goethe, Johann, 138, 139

Newton, Isaac, 141–3, 220

Plato, 137

Wordsworth, William, 137, 139 Plato, 137 political engagement in a climate change world, 222–6 politicising of climate change, 98–118 and accord between far left and far right, 115 environmentalism as challenge to Western conservative values, 36, 100, 107–8

and far left wing analysis, 113–16 and post-modernism, 116–17 refl ects personal values and political ideology, 107–13 Politicizing Science: The Alchemy of Policy

Making, 184 pollution see air pollution Pollyanna, xi, xiii population growth, 17–19, 36–7, 42–6, 51, 90 ‘positive disintegration’, 215 positive feedback see feedback mechanisms Positive Illusions (Shelley Taylor), 130 ‘post -traumatic growth theory’, 215 PR (public relations), xv, 82, 83, 104–6, 160, 162, 224 see also advertising; marketing Principia Mathematica (Isaac Newton), 141–2 production society and China, 91 and green consumerism, 79 and move to consumption society, 66–7, 69–70 progress, 35, 37 see also modernity a core western value, 209 embodies a separation of humans from nature, 135 environmentalism seen as threat to, 100–1 identifi ed with unfettered growth, 101 linked to domination of nature, 100 linked with modernity and science and technology, 102 as measured by GDP, 34 need to redefi ne, 87 threatens the planet, 209 Protestant ethic and capitalism, 144, 218 the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism (Max Weber), 144 psychological responses to climate change, 95–8, 118–33 see also climate change; cognitive dissonance; maladaptive coping strategies benefi ts of action, 222 humans respond emotively rather than cognitively, 119–20

284

Puritanism, 144 Putnam, Robert, 153

Rapture fundamentalist Christian movement, 127–8 Reagan, Ronald, 36, 183 reconstructing a future see living in a climate change world reduction in working hours see working hours refugees, climate, 30, 151, 191 rejection of the domination of nature see also domination of nature and Gaia hypothesis, 147–52 and Jan Smuts (South African Prime Minister) and ‘holism,’ 146–7 and Rachel Carson, 145 relationship of human beings with natural world, 54 relative costs, 172 renewable energy sources, 167–73 in conjunction with other strategies, 171 Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), 113 Rio Tinto, xv roots of climate change denial see politicising of climate change Royal Society, 179, 185 Rudd, Kevin, 160

Sananda cult, 95–6 savings, not the answer to global warming, 84–5 sceptics see climate change scepticism Schellnhuber, Professor Hans (Potsdam

Institute for Climate Impact

Research), 28, 193, 195, 197, 201 Schlax, Michael, 42–3 Schultz, Wesley, 134 science and technology, 102, 145, 222 scientifi c evidence for climate change, ix, xiii, 1–31, 190–208 see also climate science scientifi c revolution, 219 the Scream (Edvard Munch), 181 Scripps Institute of Oceanography (US), 28 sea-level in ice-free eras, 13

rise, 2 the self see also nature consumer self, 66–71, 74, 75, 81, 92 emergence of self and the disconnection from nature, 134–6, 152–8 in a reconstructed future, 201–14, 215–18, 223–4 Seligman, Martin, 131 Serreze, Mark (US National Snow and Ice

Data Center), 3 Shakespeare, 219 Sheikh, Imran, 172–3 Sheldon and Kasser, 216 Shell and greenwash, 82 Siberia and reduced need for heating, 201 Siberian permafrost, melting of, 3, 10, 194 Silent Spring, 35–6 a challenge to deeply held Western values, 37–8 Six Americas study, 108–13 Six Degrees (Mark Lynas), 190 the Skeptical Environmentalist (Lomborg,

Bjorn), 6–7 Sleipner carbon capture project, 163, 165 Small is Stupid, 40 Smil, Vaclav, 163 Snow, John W, US Treasury Secretary, 93 solar energy, 170 solar radiation reduction, 175–7 Spiked (online magazine), 114 stabilisation of global warming, 23–9 Stern, Nicholas see the Stern Report Stern, Todd (US Special Envoy for

Climate Change), 26 the Stern Report, 24, 26, 51–62, 178, 195 assessment of economic costs of mitigation, 54, 61 confi rms tiny cost of cutting emissions, 63 conservative response to, 56–62 entrenches growth fetishism, 52 the problem is market failure, 53 ‘storage hydro’ energy, 170 ‘subsistence emissions,’ 76 sulphate aerosols, 175, 181 sulphur dioxide, 83 injection into the stratosphere, 175–7, 183–4 the Sunday Times, 224

285

technological hubris, 31, 35, 180, 210 and carbon capture and storage (CCS), 162–3 technological solutions: workability, 42–9, 159–89 see also carbon capture and storage (CCS); climate engineering; renewable energy sources technology in confl ict with nature, 118 seen as a boon to wellbeing, 36 as a symbol of modernity and progress, 102, 221 its systemic role in ecological decline, 107 will struggle in meeting twin goals of growth and climate protection, 102, 221 technology and climate change see also disconnection from nature; domination of nature and continuing economic and population growth, 37, 42–9 and the Prometheus myth, 145 signifi cant investment required, 201 teleology and Gaia hypothesis, 149, 150 Thatcher, Margaret, 35, 116 ‘Thatcher-Clinton doctrine’, 35 The Simpsons, 119 threat minimisation (psychological defence mechanism), 122 threat to US sovereignty from environmentalism, 99–100 tidal power, 169 tipping points, xi, 1, 21–3, 24–9 social, 206 tobacco lobby strategies, 104–7 Tol, Richard (economist) and response to

Stern Report, 59 Toland, John, 143 Top Gear, 123, 125, 126 Tuvalu, 30, 200, 205 Tyndall Centre for Climate Change

Research (UK), 15–21, 193

UK Advertising Standards Authority, 82 Union of Concerned Scientists, 78 United Nations see Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) US government, 51 US National Academy of Sciences, 179 US National Snow and Ice Data Center, 3

values and political ideology and attitudes to climate change, 102, 104, 107–13 and cultural identity, 108

Six Americas study, 108–13, 121 Vietnam War and climate engineering, 187 volcanic eruptions, 175

Krakatoa, 181

Mount Pinatubo, 175

WALL-E (2008 fi lm), 46–8 the Wall Street Journal, 72–3, 85 wasteful consumption, 75–7 Weber, Max, 144 wellbeing, 36, 63–4, 76 and economic growth, 85–7 and working hours, 86–7 West Antarctic icesheets, 12, 13, 25, 198 Western traditions, 153–4 the challenge to, 37–8 and China, 93 and the Limits to Growth, 37–8 neo-conservatism as defender of, 98–106, 116 science-based environmentalism a contradiction for neoconservatism defence of, 101 wind energy, 169 Wordsworth, William, 137, 139 working hours and reducing global warming, 86–7 World Development Report (World Bank, 1992), 40 World Overshoot Day, 32 the World Without Us (Weissman, Alan), 128 Wright, Judith, 151 WWF, 78

286