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Exploring the Lived Experience of Climate Change

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The Lived Experience of Climate Change

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Abstract

This chapter extends the conceptual and theoretical arguments presented in Chap. 1. It introduces lived experience as a rich and complex narrative, set within societal structures which constrain and/or enable individuals to make sense of climate change. In questioning ‘whose knowledge counts’ from this vantage point of view, we suggest that lived experiences of climate change provide insights and knowledge that go beyond scientific or academically presented knowledge. This experiential knowledge evolves through historical processes and is shaped through a variety of social contexts, both general and specific, between groups (Northern, Southern, rich, poor) and individuals (often defined by race, gender). It is also shaped by our personal and collective positioning in society and the scale of events that affect us. The valuable insights and the diversity can only add to existing knowledge of climate change and influence policy and practice in an inclusive way. In this, the chapter focuses on lived experiences in developing countries, the large majority of whose populations are poor and where climate change issues are linked to and subsumed within embedded poverty.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Poverty and climate change are inexorably linked. This is further detailed in Sect. 2.4.

  2. 2.

    There is much debate as we go to press regarding the extent to which individual MDGs have been, or are being, met. Important as this debate is, it is tangential to the focus of the book and we do not cover it here or elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Development Geography, University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GB, UK

    Dina Abbott

  2. Environment and Development, Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

    Gordon Wilson

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  1. Dina Abbott
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  2. Gordon Wilson
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Correspondence to Dina Abbott .

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Abbott, D., Wilson, G. (2015). Exploring the Lived Experience of Climate Change. In: The Lived Experience of Climate Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17945-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17945-2_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-17944-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17945-2

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