Personal adaptation: discussions, decisions and planning

Personal adaptation: discussions, decisions and planning

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  Griffith University -Liese Coulter – [email protected] Personal adaptation: discussions, decisions and planning All images #CFCC15 © Liese Coulter: Creative Commons with attribution, non-commercial
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  Challenge: Imagine a climatesystem that gains energy every decade from now onward… The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report shows that near-term climate change will influence our environment over the next twenty years. Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  The social constructionof 2035: Communicating the imagined future to adapt to climate change WHO: Climate change professionals in research, policy and practice WHAT: How do you talk to family and friends about adapting to climate change over the next 20 years? WHEN: June 2014- June 2015 WHERE: Australia and Canada WHY: Personal conversations and plans shape the imagined future and shared choices. Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Personal adaptation issues Commonissues identified include: •My personal problems seem trivial compared with future generations, other nations, the less fortunate… •I am only one person. How can I adapt to climate change? •Dealing with climate change is not something we talk about. Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Scaring people or bringingup unpleasant topics in a social situation is not a diplomatic approach. It is easier to talk about environmental ethos in mitigation but disturbing to talk about personal vulnerability in adaptation. Personal adaptation issues Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Personal adaptation concerns Commonconcerns include the need to: • shift concern for mitigation of climate change to include adaptation to climate impacts; • think beyond unpleasant possibilities and envision future life affected by climate change, and • foster skills for greater cooperation in education and planning. Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Decision makers in prosperousnations do not see themselves as very vulnerable to climate change. Adaptation is framed as happening to someone else, at a distant time and place. Personal adaptation concerns Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Personal adaptation challenges Commonchallenges include: • uneven capacity for change on a personal level; • not practiced in thinking about the future, and • difficult to remain positive and hopeful Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Discourse and future thinkingwill continue to evolve as climate change is differently experienced and discussed globally. Personal adaptation challenges Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Dangerous Futures UnfamiliarFutures Imagined FuturesUnfolding Futures Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  “…And if anythingscares me about Tasmania is the lack of good regulation on food security, and when these outbreaks happen, then the likelihood of someone dying is high, because we just don’t have the systems in place.” (Australian 3063-practice) “…we hear a lot… that the problems are not going to be here; they’re going to be in the tropics, where you have really small islands; or in Europe, they’re going to have a lot of flooding, and then Florida is going to be - Florida won’t exist anymore. That’s what we hear about.” (Canadian 3382-research) Dangerous Futures climate change + narrative communication Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  Unfamiliar Futures climate change+ future thinking …my vision for the future is one where we’re more collaborative, not less. I think resilience for communities and for families will involve not being isolationist, but creating networks that are cooperative that can negotiate appropriate and maybe firm boundaries...(Australian 3243-policy) …global warming is not what many of us thought what it was going to be 15 or 20 years ago. …we were going to have palm trees, and our winters were going to be nothing compared to what they are now. What we’re going to see is …more extreme seasonal weather. (Canadian 3380-practice) Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  “Because the impactsof climate change ongoing right now, and into this time period that you are dealing with, has the potential to be sufficient to really cause some disruption in places like China, Southeast Asia, where a lot of our food’s coming from.” (Australian 3056-research) “…sure, I want to get into (my) 90s. I do, I’m in good health. But yeah, I imagine myself there. And getting back to the climate thing… I wonder what things will be like. I worry about the skiing.“ (Canadian 3367-research) Imagined Futures future thinking + narrative communication Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  “So even withoutclimate change global fisheries look pretty bloody awful. …But if we do it right, we’ll still be pretty natural, actually… So, could be a messy interval.” (Australian 3344-research) “I have never been in a conversation in a professional context where anybody actually sat down and said “We need to to think mainly, primarily, about climate change." Not a one. Never heard it.“ (Canadian 3384-policy) Unfolding Futures change over time Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]
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  I am onlyone person. How can I adapt to climate change? Liese Coulter I Associate Lecturer I Griffith University E: [email protected]