455 - Special Session. New Directions for Climate Action (cosponsored with Canadian Sociological Association)

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

This session is supported by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

This session will examine climate change and climate action in the Post-COP21 era. It will examine how regime shifts have affected policies, practices, attitudes and protest around climate change as well as public participation and perception of environment and environmentalism. Papers will explore whether or not new directions of policy and action have affected broader cultural norms and attitudes towards the environment and conversely how those have influenced political actors ranging from protesters to policy makers and states.

The social, cultural and political dynamics of climate change are riddled with tensions and contradictions. While international climate policy-making summits often fail to make significant progress, many cities and sub national states as well as mobilized citizens are taking action towards mitigation and adaptation. Despite increasingly stern warnings of irreversible ecological change, polar sea ice melts, circumpolar nations look at these transformed environments as potential new resource frontiers for oil and minerals. The 2014 People’s Climate March was the largest public mobilization around climate change to date, but climate skeptics continue to receive media attention that is disproportionate to their standing within the scientific community. This session will explore a diverse range of topics related to the sociology of climate change, including: climate change adaptation and mitigation, media representations and climate discourse, public opinion and behaviour, and protest around social inequality and climate justice.

Sub Unit

• Special Sessions

Presider

• Howard Ramos, Dalhousie University

Individual Presentations

• Perceived Influence in Climate Change Policy Networks: The Effect of Social Network Position in the Canadian Case - David B. Tindall, University of British Columbia; Mark C.J. Stoddart, Memorial University of Newfoundland

• Environmental Crises, Policy, and Scientific Change: Insights from a Computational Analysis - John VP McLevey, University of Waterloo

• Local Struggles against Climate Change - Suzanne Staggenborg, University of Pittsburgh

• Climate Change and the Future of Cities - Eric Klinenberg, New York University; Liz Koslov, Massachusetts Institute of Technology