Martin Lehmköster

Climate Change Revisited: Thinking Outside the Box Martin Lehmköster

Over the course of the last decades, climate change has grown into a highly debated topic that transcends all aspects of everyday life. Opinions on the matter of how to approach the issue are manifold. From an international political perspective however, it seems that only science is allowed to speak truth to power. This is notably expressed by the self-image of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which assumes an unproblematic linear relationship between scientific knowledge and political reasoning. This book puts the validity of this assumption under scrutiny. Based on a theoretical body of discourse and hybridity, the emergence of a science-policy alliance that frames contemporary climate change debates is traced back to its cultural roots. With the theme of transition the author mobilises a source of ideas that presents a radical alternative to the dominant mental models. Supported by a case study from New Zealand the author makes the virtue of this theme visible in a practical context. The research findings highlight that there is a lot more to climate change than the dominant science-policy approach would lead to believe.