Climate Engineering - A Solution to the 'Crisis' of Climate Change?
Basic data for this talk
Type of talk: scientific talk
Name der Vortragenden: Kreuter, Judith
Date of talk: 20/08/2014
Talk language: English
Information about the event
Name of the event: Climate Engineering Conference 2014 - Critical Global Discussions
Event period: 18/08/2014 - 21/08/2014
Event location: Scandic Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland
Event website: http://www.ce-conference.org/
Organised by: Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies Potsdam
Abstract
The public, science and politics share the notion that anthropogenic climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. While the instruments of mitigation and adaptation play a central role in the current international climate regime, scientific as well as political interest in climate engineering (CE) technologies as solutions to problems caused by climate change is increasing. This planned PhD thesis asks how and why the current political, scientific and public discourse on climate change as a "crisis" might lead to a "state of exception" which justifies the development and deployment of extraordinary measures, while alternative potential solutions are eliminated in public discourse. In that case, the development and deployment of CE instruments would not be based on sound scientific knowledge the climate system and a deliberative process of political decision making, but on the fear of a global climate catastrophe.The analysis of the question is complicated by a common assumption about climate change: That it is unprecedented. This assumption is contested here. It will be presumed that the case is comparable to that of nuclear weapons development during the Cold War: Both situations are considered a "crisis" by their contemporaries, which, in turn, justifies the development and deployment of extraordinary measures: CE technologies in one case and nuclear weapons in the other. In both cases, the perception of "crisis" is based on objective as well as subjectively felt threads to values of a community. The situation has been communicated as a danger and has been accepted as such in the public sphere. The danger is considered global and the deployment of extraordinary measures is proposed. The paper will draw upon the methods of analogy, discourse analysis and network analysis.The unique contribution of this presentation to the conference is its reference to the case of nuclear weapons development in order to describe and explain the particular relations between science and politics in the case of CE and the discursive background of the idea of technological solutions to political problems.Keywords: Climate Engineering; Nuclear weapons; crisis; extraordinary measures; climate change
Speakers from the University of Münster
| Kreuter, Judith | Institute of Political Science (IfPol) |