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Workshop on Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change May 30-31, 2008 JJooaannee NNaaggeell Thomas Dietz Jeﬀrey Broadbent National Science Foundation 2009 Photograph Credits: Cover photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com p. 5, Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, University of Kansas All other photos courtesy of iStockphoto.com and creative commons of Flickr.com Sociology Program Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences National Science Foundation 2009 This report is a summary of the proceedings of the “Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change” workshop held at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, May 30-31, 2008. Any opinions, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government. Workshop on Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change May 30 - 31, 2008 Report prepared by: Joane Nagel University of Kansas Thomas Dietz Michigan State University Jeffrey Broadbent University of Minnesota Sociology Program Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences National Science Foundation 2009 2 Acknowledgments Acknowledgments We wish to thank Dr. Patricia White, NSF Sociology Program Director for her help in planning this workshop and preparing this report; Dr. Tom Baerwald, NSF Geography and Regional Sciences Program Director, for presenting a broad overview of climate change research programs in the Foundation; Karen Duke, NSF Social and Political Sciences Cluster Program Specialist for her administrative and technical support; Monique Laney and Lindsey Feitz, University of Kansas graduate assistants to Joane Nagel, for their help in organizing the workshop, designing and maintaining the workshop website, and writing the workshop report; Natalie Parker, Assistant Director, University of Kansas Center for Research on Global Change, Institute for Policy & Social Research, for her help in preparing the final report; the 28 workshop participants who submitted the informed and imaginative papers contained in Appendix 3; and all workshop participants who contributed constructive and creative comments and useful recommendations during and after the workshop, especially those who responded to a draft of the workshop report. Workshop Participants Tom Baerwald, National Science Foundation Marta Maldonado, Iowa State University Nancy Beller-Simms, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Sabrina McCormick, Michigan State University Administration Aaron McCright, Michigan State University Michele Betsill, Colorado State University Linda Mearns, National Center for Atmospheric Steven Brechin, Syracuse University Research Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota Joane Nagel, University of Kansas Robert Bullard, Clark Atlanta University Kari Norgaard, Whitman College Penelope Canan, University of Central Florida Simone Pulver, Brown University JoAnn Carmin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Timmons Roberts, College of William and Mary Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University Eugene Rosa, Washington State University Riley Dunlap, Oklahoma State University Joel Scheraga, Environmental Protection Agency Barbara Entwisle, University of North Carolina Rachel Slocum, St. Cloud State University Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Alps-Adria University Paul Stern, National Research Council Dana R. Fisher, Columbia University Kathleen Tierney, University of Colorado Ken Frank, Michigan State University Beverly Wright, Dillard University Eric Hanley, University of Kansas Richard York, University of Oregon Sharon Harlan, Arizona State University Sammy Zahran, Colorado State University Patricia Romero Lankao, National Center for Atmospheric Research Student Associates Anna-Lisa Aunio, McGill University Umar Moulta-Ali, Ohio State University Xiaodong Chen, Michigan State University Vikrum Sequeira, University of Texas at Austin Lindsey Feitz, University of Kansas Rachel Shwom, Michigan State University Monique Laney, University of Kansas John Tribbia, University of Colorado at Boulder Philip Mancus, University of Oregon 3 Executive Summary Executive Summary olial, On May 30-31, 2008, a workshop on Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change was held at NSF in Arlington, Virginia. The workshop was funded by an NSF grant from the Sociology Program to Drs. Joane Nagel, University of Kansas; Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota; and Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University. The purpose of the workshop was threefold: identify ways to 1) increase sociology’s capacity to conduct climate change research, 2) motivate research that contributes solutions to a global problem of historical importance, and 3) expand sociological participation in interdisciplinary research and education about global climate change. Workshop participants were asked to answer two questions in their short papers and workshop deliberations: What is the state of sociological research on global climate change? What are the major research questions that sociologists should be asking and seeking to answer about climate change? The workshop was intended to contribute to advancing sociological research on global climate change, and thus to advancing the research capacity, tools, and infrastructure in the social sciences. This report is organized into four sections; the first three parallel the organization of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 Fourth Assessment Report’s Summary for Policymakers1 which identifies causes, impacts, and mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change. Part I outlines the current state of sociological knowledge and opportunities for future research about the social causes of global climate change; several theoretical and empirical research areas in sociology are referenced both for the knowledge they have already generated and for their potential to contribute to further research on the causes of climate change: global political economy, human ecology and environmental impact models, cultural and meaning systems, macro-comparative policy research, social organization of science and science policy. Part II identifies the current state of sociological knowledge and opportunities for future research about social impacts of global climate change; relevant theoretical and empirical research areas in sociology are referenced both for the knowledge they have already generated and for their potential to contribute to further research on the causes of climate change: environmental justice, disaster research, human health, security and conflict, and social demography and population research. Part III summarizes the current state of sociological knowledge and opportunities for future research about the social dimensions of mitigation and adaptation to global climate change; several theoretical and empirical research areas in sociology are referenced both for the knowledge they have already generated and for their potential to contribute to further research on mitigation and adaptation efforts: global governance, risk assessment and decision making, cultures of consumption, contributions to advocacy and action research, and organizations and networks. Part IV contains recommendations to sociologists and to funding agencies, including NSF, for advancing sociological research on global climate change including recommendations for catalyzing the discipline of sociology, forging interdisciplinary collaborations, and developing the capacity and infrastructure to increase sociology’s contribution to understanding and responding to global climate change. 1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers (Cambridge University Press, 2007). 4 Executive Summary Recommendations for catalyzing the discipline: • Build capacity by increasing the number of researchers in the sociological study of the environment. • Increase the presence of sociologists in climate change research and policy organizations. • Provide funding opportunities to develop and conduct research projects that investigate the human dimensions of climate change. • Develop an American Sociological Association committee and position statement on climate change. • Facilitate sociologists’ access to climate change research and policy networks. Recommendations for forging interdisciplinary collaborations: • Facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and training. • Encourage sociologists to embrace multi-method frameworks. • Increase support of research networks and collaborations with natural scientists and engineers. • Increase training of sociologists in natural science approaches to global climate change. • Fund summer institutes that facilitate interdisciplinary working groups. Recommendations for capacity building and infrastructure development: • Include social scientists and social science data collection in large-scale ecological observation projects such as the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. • Include data collection on climate change in currently supported data infrastructure projects such as the General Social Survey (GSS), Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and the American National Election Studies (ANES). • Organize follow-up workshops to bring together environmental sociologists with sociologists specializing in models and tools to inform the study of climate change such as GIS specialists, demographers, network analysts, and consumer culture researchers. • Develop an interdisciplinary Social Environmental Observatory Network (SEON). • Create a training institute focused on the social dimensions of climate change. The report concludes with appendices that list workshop participants, present the workshop agenda, and include the papers submitted by workshop participants. A complete copy of this report along with recommended readings and other useful information for climate change students and researchers is available on the University of Kansas Center for Research on Global Change website: http://ireswb.cc.ku.edu/~crgc/NSFWorkshop. 5 6 Table of Contents Table of Contents Acknowledgments 3 Executive Summary 4 Background 9 Part I: Sociological Analyses of the Causes of Global Climate Change 13 17 Part II: Sociological Perspectives on the Impacts of Global Climate Change Part III: Sociological Approaches to Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation 21 Part IV: Recommendations for Advancing Sociological Research on Global Climate Change 25  25 Recommendations for Catalyzing the Discipline  27 Recommendations for Forging Interdisciplinary Collaborations  28 Recommendations for Capacity Building and Infrastructure Development Appendices 31 Appendix 1: Workshop Participants 33 Appendix 2: Workshop Agenda 35 Appendix 3: Workshop Papers Michele Betsill, Colorado State University Marta Maldonado, Iowa State University Steven Brechin, Syracuse University Sabrina McCormick, Michigan State University Jeffrey Broadbent, University of Minnesota Aaron McCright, Michigan State University Robert Bullard, Clark Atlanta University Joane Nagel, University of Kansas Penelope Canan, University of Central Florida Kari Norgaard, Whitman College JoAnn Carmin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Simone Pulver, Brown University Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University Timmons Roberts, College of William and Mary Riley Dunlap, Oklahoma State University Eugene Rosa, Washington State University Barbara Entwisle, University of North Carolina Rachel Slocum, St. Cloud State University Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Alps-Adria University Paul Stern, National Research Council Dana R. Fisher, Columbia University Kathleen Tierney, University of Colorado Ken Frank, Michigan State University Beverly Wright, Dillard University Eric Hanley, University of Kansas Richard York, University of Oregon Sharon Harlan, Arizona State University Sammy Zahran, Colorado State University 7 Table of Contents 8