Hulme, Mike. “Climate.” Environmental Humanities 6, no. 1 (2015): 175-8. doi:10.1215/22011919-3615952.
Climate is an enduring idea and also a powerful one; and, like any interesting word, it defies easy definition. The idea of climate today is most commonly associated with the discourse of climate change and its scientific, political, economic, religious, ethical and social dimensions. I have written about these in Why We Disagree About Climate Change, but before we can understand the cultural politics of climate change, I believe we need a richer understanding of the idea of climate itself. My argument is that climate—as it is imagined and acted upon— needs to be understood, first and foremost, culturally and that the environmental humanities can enrich and deepen such an understanding. (Text from author)
© Mike Hulme 2015. Environmental Humanities is available online only and is published under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).