Environmental Change and the World's Futures: Ecologies, ontologies and mythologies (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)

Climate change and ecological instability have the potential to disrupt human societies and their futures. Cultural, social and ethical life in all societies is directed towards a future that can never be observed, and never be directly acted upon, and yet is always interacting with us. Thinking and acting towards the future involves efforts of imagination that are linked to our sense of being in the world and the ecological pressures we experience. The three key ideas of this book – ecologies, ontologies and mythologies – help us understand the ways people in many different societies attempt to predict and shape their futures. Each chapter places a different emphasis on the linked domains of environmental change, embodied experience, myth and fantasy, politics, technology and intellectual reflection, in relation to imagined futures. The diverse geographic scope of the chapters includes rural Nepal, the islands of the Pacific Ocean, Sweden, coastal Scotland, North America, and remote, rural and urban Australia. This book will appeal to researchers and students in anthropology, sociology, environmental studies, cultural studies, psychology and politics. The Futures Discussed In This Book Primarily Arise From Awareness Of The Potentially Disruptive Impact Of Climate Change And Ecological Instability On Human Societies. Part Of The Paradox Of Cultural, Social And Ethical Life In All Societies Is That It Is Directed Towards A Future That Can Never Be Observed, And Never Be Directly Acted Upon, And Yet Is Always Interacting With Us. As A Result Actions Depend On Imagination And Political Action. Future-loaded Terms Like 'anthropogenic Climate Change', 'food Security', 'sustainability', 'energy Security', And 'biodiversity' Evoke A Specific Politics That Privileges Scientific Or Economic Knowledge, While Potentially Suppressing The Contestations Within, And Between, Those Knowledges. Remedies Like Carbon Taxes, Carbon Trading, Renewable Energy And Nature Conservation Risk Obscuring Forms Of Social And Cultural Difference In Favour Of The Proposed Moral Unity Of 'global Humanity' On A Threatened Planet. These Are 'holistic' Projects That Suppress Parts Of The World, Or Particular Social Dynamics, In Favour Of Others. By Contrast, This Book's Framework Embraces An Appreciation Of Difference And Non-holism, As It Is Unlikely That One Solution To The Many Disruptive Futures Perceived Throughout The World Can Be Found. Indeed Any Such 'one Solution' May Increase The Disruptive Effects Found In Local Situations. Each Chapter Invites Reflection On Diverse Ways Of Comprehending Global Warming And Other Manifestations Of Major Environmental Change, As Well As On The Forms, And Shapers, Of Agency That Influence People's Understanding And Response. In Order To Encourage The Appreciation Of The Different Future Worlds Either Imagined And Emergent In The Present, The Scope Of The Chapters Extends Beyond The Usual Geopolitical Focus On The North Atlantic World, To Encompass Nepal, Islands In The Pacific, Sweden, Coastal Scotland And Remote, Regional And Urban Australia. The Book Is Uniquely Informed By Empirically Based And Multidisciplinary Social Science Modes Of Inquiry, Together With A Broad-ranging Examination Of The 'futures' Based Discourse, Policy And Politics That Have Become An Intrinsic Part Of The Contemporary World. It Will Appeal To Researchers And Postgraduate Students In Environmental Anthropology, Environmental Studies, Psychology And Politics. Contents List of illustrations List of contributors Ecologies, ontologies and mythologies of possible futures • Linda H. Connor and Jonathan Paul Marshall Part I: Intellectual and speculative engagements with ecological change 1 Towards an anthropology of the future: visions of a future world in the era of climate change • Hans A. Baer 2 The first draft of the future: journalism in the ‘Age of the Anthropocene’ • Tom Morton 3 Ecological complexity and the ethics of disorder • Jonathan Paul Marshall Part II: The politics of engagement 4 Futures of governance: ecological challenges and policy myths in tuna fisheries • Kate Barclay 5 The work of waste-making: biopolitical labour and the myth of the global city • David Boarder Giles 6 From sociological imagination to ‘ecological imagination’: Another Future Is Possible • Ariel Salleh, James Goodman and S. A. Hamed Hosseini Part III: Environmental change in specific places and cultures 7 Indigenous ontologies and developmentalism: analysis of the National Consultations for the Kiribati Adaptation Program • Felicity Prance 8 When climate change is not the concern: realities and futures of environmental change in village Nepal • Sascha Fuller 9 Ontologies and ecologies of hardship: past and future governance in the Central Australian arid zone • Sarah Holcombe 10 From good meat to endangered species: indigenising nature in Australia’s Western Desert and in Germany’s Ruhr District • Ute Eickelkamp Part IV: Body and psyche 11 Climate change imaginings and depth psychology: reconciling present and future worlds • Sally Gillespie 12 What wrecks reveal: structural violence in ecological systems • Penny McCall Howard 13 Emergent ontologies: natural scepticism, weather certitudes and moral futures • Linda H. Connor Part V: Technological mythology 14 Official optimism in the face of an uncertain future: Swedish reactions to climate change threats • Mark Graham 15 Geoengineering, imagining and the problem cycle: a cultural complex in action • Jonathan Paul Marshall 16 The creation to come: pre-empting the evolution of the bioeconomy • Jeremy Walker Index