Climate strikes: the challenge to research

by Clare Downing and Tina Fawcett

An estimated 2,000 school pupils and their supporters joined in a growing world-wide movement by holding a ‘climate strike’ in the centre of Oxford on 15 February, and there were similar events in other cities across the UK. A month later, and the youth climate strikes were even bigger, taking place in many more UK cities, and in over 100 countries worldwide. This youth movement was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who has taken her message, that we need action not talk, to global political leaders and policymakers.

Putting people at the heart of efforts to tackle climate change

by Lorraine Whitmarsh

There have been stark warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UK Committee on Climate Change that rapid, society-wide decarbonisation is needed, and that we need to work harder if we are to avoid devastating climate change.

We may have as little as a decade in which to significantly cut emissions, and doing this will require fresh thinking. So far, emission cuts have mostly been achieved by changing electricity supply. But if we’re going to tackle demand – and particularly in high-impact but challenging areas like food, transport, heating, and material consumption – we can’t do this by technological change alone. We can only do this by transforming the way we live our lives, challenging norms, and reconfiguring organisations and cities.

Storm Desmond – Who wants to talk about climate change at a time like this?

Dr Adam Corner is Climate Outreach‘s Director of Research as well as an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, Cardiff University. Adam manages Climate Outreach’s research portfolio and directs collaborations with academic partners. He writes regularly for the national media, including The Guardian and New Scientist magazine.

Storm Desmond – Who wants to talk about climate change at a time like this?

In scenes that are – sadly – becoming an increasingly familiar feature of the UK’s winter months, unprecedented levels of rain fell in the North of England and Scotland last weekend. Swollen rivers burst their banks, flood defences failed, and hospitals moved to emergency power supplies. Tragically, several people are thought to have lost their lives as the storm swept the country.

A rapidly changing climate and a renewed social science

Gioia Barnbrook is a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen.

Her piece ‘A rapidly changing climate and a renewed social science’ finished as a runner-up in the ESRC’s writing competition, The World in 2065 – in collaboration with academic publishers, SAGE.  You can read it below: