BGHS

What is it all about?

Climate change is a matter of high social relevance and topicality. Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, high winds and flooding cause high (social) costs and attract the attention of the media, which forces people in politics, economy and science to make unambiguous statements.

But what exactly is climate change? How is it experienced in everyday life and what are its social consequences? While the causes and physical consequences of climate change as seen for example in rising sea levels can be investigated using the methods of the natural sciences, the social costs and the cultural patterns of interpretation and management cannot easily be derived from models of the future physical structure of the earth's surface. This is so because, even if we assume that climate change concerns the whole globe, it can only be experienced in everyday life through various forms of cultural coding and interpretive patterns. At present we know very little about the manifold culture-specific perceptions and traditions of coping with climate change and marine dynamics which have been developed by various societies in the course of evolution and how these impact the relation to the discourse of global climate change. Not only do we thus ignore valuable knowledge that could be useful in the development of intelligent solutions to the climate problems of our time. We are lacking, moreover, a sound empirical base which could possibly make scientific projections of the worldwide social consequences of climate change more tangible.