

From Politics, Science, and the Environment
Changing the Atmosphere
Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance
Overview
Author(s)
Praise
Summary
In recent years, Earth systems science has advanced rapidly, helping to transform climate change and other planetary risks into major political issues. Changing the Atmosphere strengthens our understanding of this important link between expert knowledge and environmental governance. In so doing, it illustrates how the emerging field of science and technology studies can inform our understanding of the human dimensions of global environmental change.
Incorporating historical, sociological, and philosophical approaches, Changing the Atmosphere presents detailed empirical studies of climate science and its uptake into public policy. Topics include the scientific, political, and social processes involved in the creation of scientific knowledge about climate change; the historical and contemporary role of expert knowledge in creating and perpetuating policy concern about climate change; and the place of science in institutions of global environmental governance such as the World Meteorological Organization, the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Together, the essays demonstrate fundamental connections between the science and politics of planet Earth. In the struggle to create sustainable forms of environmental governance, they indicate, a necessary first step is to understand how communities achieve credible, authoritative representations of nature. Contributors Paul N. Edwards, Dale Jamieson, Sheila Jasanoff, Chunglin Kwa, Clark Miller, Stephen D. Norton, Stephen H. Schneider, Simon Shackley, Frederick Suppe
Hardcover
Out of Print ISBN: 9780262133876 398 pp. | 6 in x 9 inPaperback
$35.00 X ISBN: 9780262632195 398 pp. | 6 in x 9 inEndorsements
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This is an impressive, provocative, and interesting collection of essays. It should be of particular interest to political scientists and students of science studies and should also appeal to policy analysts, policymakers, and participants in the Conference of the Parties.
Ronnie D. Lipschutz
University of California, Santa Cruz
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This is a timely and well-done volume that delivers what the title promises: a study of how expert knowledge and global environmental governance interact in dealing with anthopogenic changes of the atmosphere.
Carlo C. Jaeger
Head, Social Systems Department, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research