The Human Dimensions of Climate Change: Is it Time to go Deeper?

GEC3 Climate Change Impacts & Adaptations Speaker Series

Dr. Karen O'Brien
Department of Sociology and Human Geography
University of Oslo

Climate change does not merely challenge a “business as usual” approach to economic growth and development, it raises fundamental ethical questions, including issues of equity, justice and human security. For academic research to make valuable contributions to bringing about changes in both understanding and policy, there is a need for more innovative approaches, drawing on different disciplines and types of knowledge. I will discuss some of the social challenges of responding to climate change, and explain why it is time for human dimensions research to go much deeper, exploring how culture, values, and worldviews influence systems and behaviors. I will explain why I think an integral approach can help us to better understand and address some of the contradictions and paradoxes that are impeding action towards a sustainable future.

Dr Karen L. O'Brien is chair of the Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) project of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). Her current research focuses on climate change vulnerability and adaptation, and on the role that values and worldviews play in responding to environmental change. She has recently published a book with Robin Leichenko on “Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures” (Oxford University Press, 2008).