Climate Change: 1997 Publications

Author: von Storch, H. and Stehr, N.
Title: Climate research: The case for the social sciences.
Publication: Ambio 26(1):66-71, 1997.
© Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Notes : The present dilemmas brought about by anthropogenic climate change are in many ways unprecedented. Knowledge about the physical nature of global climate changes is not sufficient to move from comprehension to a solution of the problem. The historical record shows that past generations too, have been fascinated and concerned about the impact of climate as well as anthropogenic climate change on society. But these efforts have, for the most part, been informed by the doctrine of climate determinism. We ask therefore what a more realistic form of impact research, as a basis for climate policy, must look like. We argue that the conception of the issue as an ''optimal control problem'' is inadequate. Impact research has to be cognizant of the dynamic social construct of climate. As a result, climate policies as a form of managed climate change have to draw extensively on social science expertise.