Climate Emergency: How Societies Create the Crisis

Recognition of climate change as a climate emergency has been endorsed by scientists and the United Nations, with natural scientists focusing on anthropogenic climate change. Sociogenic climate change examines the socio-economic and political forces driving the crisis and how societies inhabit different resource environments, affecting their histories and cultures. Harvey re-examines history through the lens of climate change, showing how societies have created an unequal world and must be politically involved in addressing the crisis.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 28 July 2021
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited

The widespread acknowledgment that climate change has escalated to a climate emergency has garnered support from a diverse array of scientists and the United Nations. Natural scientists primarily concentrate on the collective consequences of human actions, such as the combustion of fossil fuels and the production of food, leading them to refer to anthropogenic climate change.

Climate Emergency delves into the socio-economic and political factors propelling the climate emergency, introducing the concept of sociogenic climate change to illustrate how societies both contribute to and face distinct challenges arising from the crisis. Harvey emphasizes the diverse resource environments inhabited by societies, whether for fossil fuel reserves or land, sunlight, and water, which shape their histories and cultures. By adopting a sociogenic approach to climate change, Harvey reevaluates history, rewriting the climate impact of significant historical events such as the British industrial revolution, US settler colonialism, slavery, and Native American genocides. He also explores the electrification of societies and infrastructures for fossil-fueled transportation and shifts in dietary habits.

In the broader historical context, different societies and political economies have both contributed to creating an unequal world and continue to make uneven contributions to climate change. Understanding this requires demonstrating how societies have evolved to employ distinct methods for exploiting planetary resources. Societies not only bear the responsibility for creating the crisis but also play a crucial role in addressing it through political engagement.

Weight: 286g
Dimension: 130 x 198 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800433335