Mike Hulme
I am Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge. My work explores the idea of climate change using historical, cultural and scientific analyses, seeking to illuminate the numerous ways in which climate change is deployed in public and political discourse. A narrative of my research career and contributions can be found here: http://mikehulme.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Hulme-Research-narrative.pdf.
I believe it is important to understand and describe the varied ideological, political and ethical work that the idea of climate change is currently performing across different social worlds. My research interests are therefore concerned with representations of climate change in history, culture and the media; relationships between climates and societies (including adaptation); with how knowledge of climate change is constructed (especially through the IPCC); and with the interactions between climate change knowledge and policy.
I was previously head of Geography at King's College London and professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA (2002-2013). I was the founding Director (2000-2007) of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, worked in the Climatic Research Unit in the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA (1988-2000), and before this lectured in geography at the University of Salford (1984-1988).
Phone: 01223 339819
Address: Department of Geography
Downing Place, University of Cambridge
Cambridge CB2 3EN
UK
I believe it is important to understand and describe the varied ideological, political and ethical work that the idea of climate change is currently performing across different social worlds. My research interests are therefore concerned with representations of climate change in history, culture and the media; relationships between climates and societies (including adaptation); with how knowledge of climate change is constructed (especially through the IPCC); and with the interactions between climate change knowledge and policy.
I was previously head of Geography at King's College London and professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA (2002-2013). I was the founding Director (2000-2007) of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, worked in the Climatic Research Unit in the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA (1988-2000), and before this lectured in geography at the University of Salford (1984-1988).
Phone: 01223 339819
Address: Department of Geography
Downing Place, University of Cambridge
Cambridge CB2 3EN
UK
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Books by Mike Hulme
It presents climate change as an idea with a past, a present and a future. In 10 carefully crafted chapters, Climate Change offers a synoptic and inter-disciplinary understanding of the idea of climate change … from its varied historical and cultural origins, to its construction more recently through scientific endeavour, to the multiple ways in which political, social and cultural movements in today’s world seek to make sense of and act upon it, to the possible futures of climate, however it may be governed and imagined. The central claim of the book is that the full breadth and power of the idea of climate change can only be grasped from a vantage point that embraces the social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. This vantage point is what the book offers, written from the perspective of a geographer whose career work on climate change has drawn across the full range of academic disciplines.
In this book, Mike Hulme argues against this kind of hubristic techno-fix. Drawing upon a distinguished career studying the science, politics and ethics of climate change, he shows why seeking to control global climate this way is undesirable, ungovernable and unattainable. Rather than seeking to solve climate change this way, Hulme proposes a re-framing of what is problematic about a changing climate. Science and technology should instead serve the more pragmatic goals of increasing societal resilience to weather risks, improving regional air quality and driving forward an energy technology transition. This ‘climate pragmatism’ offers a more plausible, affective and equitable response to climate change than does an illusory global thermostat.
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Papers by Mike Hulme
It presents climate change as an idea with a past, a present and a future. In 10 carefully crafted chapters, Climate Change offers a synoptic and inter-disciplinary understanding of the idea of climate change … from its varied historical and cultural origins, to its construction more recently through scientific endeavour, to the multiple ways in which political, social and cultural movements in today’s world seek to make sense of and act upon it, to the possible futures of climate, however it may be governed and imagined. The central claim of the book is that the full breadth and power of the idea of climate change can only be grasped from a vantage point that embraces the social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. This vantage point is what the book offers, written from the perspective of a geographer whose career work on climate change has drawn across the full range of academic disciplines.
In this book, Mike Hulme argues against this kind of hubristic techno-fix. Drawing upon a distinguished career studying the science, politics and ethics of climate change, he shows why seeking to control global climate this way is undesirable, ungovernable and unattainable. Rather than seeking to solve climate change this way, Hulme proposes a re-framing of what is problematic about a changing climate. Science and technology should instead serve the more pragmatic goals of increasing societal resilience to weather risks, improving regional air quality and driving forward an energy technology transition. This ‘climate pragmatism’ offers a more plausible, affective and equitable response to climate change than does an illusory global thermostat.
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There are different ways of making a consensus
The quality of a consensus matters more than it’s numerical strength
Don’t extend the reach of consensus
Consensus has limited public leverage and policy efficacy
A consensus is not forever – consensus is not the truth
Do not be intimidated by disagreement – as much in science as in politics
This brief survey of climate change over 25 years suggests at least two reasons why. First, there is no ‘plan’, no self-evidently correct way of framing and tackling the phenomenon of climate change which will over-ride different legitimate interests and force convergence of political action. Second, climate science keeps on generating different forms of knowledge about climate—different handles on climate change--which are suggestive of different forms of political and institutional response to climate change. Taken together these two lessons suggest other ways of engaging with the idea of climate change, not as a discrete environmental phenomenon to prevent, control or manage, but as a forceful idea which carries creative potential.