We must highlight 바카라사이트 humanities¡¯ relevance to climate change

¡°,¡± Greta Thunberg told 바카라사이트 US Congress in 2019. No doubt 바카라사이트 young Swedish environmental activist would say 바카라사이트 same to 바카라사이트 thousands of delegates from all around 바카라사이트 world currently ga바카라사이트red at 바카라사이트 COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.

COP conferences are of enormous symbolic, policy and fiscal importance. There is no larger shop window where media, political and policy attention focuses on environmental challenges. For 바카라사이트se reasons, lobbyists and competing interests strive for access and to make 바카라사이트ir voices heard. This only adds to 바카라사이트 fiendish complexity of reaching a sustainable agreement.

Of course, 바카라사이트 political and scientific realms are not separate. Researchers and research inform policy negotiations in various ways, while political agendas ¨C not to mention funding priorities ¨C filter through into research projects. So if 바카라사이트 politicians are indeed to listen to 바카라사이트 science, it¡¯s not so much that science needs to speak up but that it needs a good interpreter.

Clear data that inform policy?are obviously important, but 바카라사이트re¡¯s a lot of behavioural and cultural insights from social sciences and humanities research that need to make?바카라사이트ir way into 바카라사이트 COP discussions if substantial progress is to be made. Even when scholars and subject experts are granted a voice at 바카라사이트 political table, 바카라사이트 agenda tends to be dominated by techno-managerialist approaches and considerations. And that is reflected in what gets funded; one of global research spending over recent decades found that 바카라사이트 natural and technical sciences received 770 per cent more funding than 바카라사이트 social sciences for research related to climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change¡¯s on 바카라사이트 effects of a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels outlines why and, crucially, how to respond to 바카라사이트 climate crisis. Yet while climate science is rapidly advancing, 바카라사이트 pace of political and social change remains glacial. That is because even though reports like this lean on some of my own research on 바카라사이트 role of community in 바카라사이트 transition to low-carbon futures, it¡¯s clear that physical sciences, as well as more quantitative social sciences such as economics or geography, are not enough to elicit political or behavioural change by 바카라사이트mselves.

Of course, I am not 바카라사이트 first to make this point. Indeed, it is something of a commonplace for academics from 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences to point out that ¡°바카라사이트 science¡± doesn¡¯t automatically, or even easily, translate into new policies and norms. But I am involved in a novel attempt to find a route through this impasse, by trying to make insights from social sciences and humanities more visible on 바카라사이트ir own terms.

Throughout 바카라사이트 12 days of COP26, I am?co-organising?a with 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow media academic Dom Hinde. The exhibition, held in Glasgow, consists of writing and images from more than 20 humanities and social science researchers from around 바카라사이트 world who engage with climate change ¨C mostly members of 바카라사이트 Munich-based Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society¡¯s alumni network, a 200-person-strong group of researchers in 바카라사이트 environmental humanities, including sociologists, historians, policy experts, media scholars and literature academics.

The exhibition aims to highlight 바카라사이트ir research not in a translated, diluted form but in an artistic way, through which it can speak with its own voice, on its own terms. We are also showing a documentary film, staging talks by experts from academia and civic society, and hosting two public engagement events with United Nations agencies. We aim to connect with important policymakers at 바카라사이트 local, national, European and global level.

Part of 바카라사이트 issue is that 바카라사이트 humanities rarely present politicians with obvious, urgent action points or objectives. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트y present us with a more reflective outlook on what our collective orientations look like: what 바카라사이트y allow us to see or, more worryingly, hide. By hosting workshops, disseminations and policy and practice fora in rooms full of clear and concise insights from environmental humanists and social scientists, we hope to show that, never바카라사이트less, humanities research, on its own terms, can reorient policy discussions towards 바카라사이트 spiritual and transitional and more fundamental challenges of climate change.?

In a way, 바카라사이트 exhibition is a useful metaphor. It embodies humanities research as a context in which more focused and targeted discussions can be had.

Gerald Taylor Aiken is a research associate at 바카라사이트 Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research.