TY  - JOUR
A1  - Verweij, Marco
T1  - Clumsy solutions and climate change: A retrospective
Y1  - 2022-10-27
VL  - 14
IS  - 1
JF  - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
DO  - 10.1002/wcc.804
PB  - John Wiley & Sons
CY  - Inc.
N2  - In 1989, Steve Rayner chided fellow anthropologists for “fiddling while the world warms.” This was the starting point of a decades‐long application to human‐made climate change of the cultural theory that he had developed with Mary Douglas and Michael Thompson. It culminated in a call to develop “clumsy” solutions for addressing the issue. Since then, the concept of clumsy solutions has been applied, praised, and criticised. To clarify its strengths and weaknesses, I first set out cultural theory and explain how the notion of clumsy solutions was derived from it. I then assess the extent to which this notion has increased our understanding of climate change governance. I do so by breaking up the application of this concept into seven predictions, concerning: (1) the major perspectives among stakeholders on how to resolve climate change; (2) the fate of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol; (3) the feasibility of international emissions trading; (4) the possibility of making renewable energy competitive; (5) the need for domestic governmental action to realize this possibility; (6) the effectiveness of a nonbinding global treaty to combat climate change; and (7) the need to explore adaptation, carbon capture, and geoengineering. I show that these predictions have stood the test of time. Finally, I discuss the roles that the concept of clumsy solutions can play in future climate change governance. This article is written in memory of Steve Rayner, one of the first social scientists to focus on climate change. This article is categorized under: Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Sociology/Anthropology of Climate Knowledge Climate, History, Society, Culture > Thought Leaders
UR  - http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11650
ER  -