Climate Change isn't Everything: Liberating Climate Politics from Alarmism

by Mike Hulme

The changing climate poses serious dangers to human and non-human life alike, though perhaps the most urgent danger is one we hear very little the rise of climatism. Too many social, political and ecological problems facing the world today – from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the management of wildfires – quickly become climatized, explained with reference to ‘a change in the climate’. When complex political and ethical challenges are so narrowly framed, arresting climate change is sold as the supreme political challenge of our time and everything else becomes subservient to this one goal.

In this far-sighted analysis, Mike Hulme reveals how climatism has taken hold in recent years, becoming so pervasive and embedded in public life that it is increasingly hard to resist it without being written off as a climate denier. He confronts this dangerously myopic view that reduces the condition of the world to the fate of global temperature or the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide to the detriment of tackling serious issues as varied as poverty, liberty, biodiversity loss, inequality and international diplomacy. We must not live as though climate alone determines our present and our future.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Climate Change

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2023

Reviews

[Alasdair Paine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book a refreshing blast of scholarly fresh air in current conversations about human-caused climate change. Hulme shows how a right concern about human-caused climate change - which he makes clear is a real threat - has morphed into “climatism”, a quasi-religious worldview in which all our problems are linked to climate change. Such a narrow focus can lead to disastrous policy outcomes, and neglects problems such as inequality and poor government (he gives many examples).

Hulme is no crackpot climate-change-denier. He holds the chair of human geography at Cambridge University, and is the head of department. His lifetime’s research has been in climate change, and he was a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He speaks from a position of considerable knowledge.

Hulme does not mention it, but the Bible’s analysis of the human problem goes far deeper than climate change. We must act on on global warming, but must not miss the deeper roots of our human condition, and its various other results.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, up, this is not a book that denies climate change. Even though the title is provocative, it does its best work by capturing the challenges of discussing climate change in our current political and ideological landscape.

For that reason, it is truly an excellent book. It fairly criticizes what scientists do wrong in their communication within both academia and our wider media ecosystems, while acknowledging what, when, and how they get it right.

I would say this is a book for everyone, both those who are skeptical about climate change and, perhaps more importantly, those who passionately support various carbon mitigation efforts.

I would say this is a book that is best read as a companion to Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World by Vaclav Smil. Together these books illustrate the inherent challenges humans must grapple with as we work to mitigate climate change alongside our attempts to improve the lives of all the worlds inhabitants.

[Floris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll say up front that I am a Mike Hulme fan. Ever since reading his now 15-year-old but still very relevant Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity (2009), I’ve admired the way in which he approaches the problem of climate change: seriously, but also critically. As he is at pains to point out in this short and highly readable book, he does not deny that climate change is occurring. Nor does he deny that it is a problem. What he denies is that it is the only>/i> problem. This is a gross simplification of the thesis, but it gets at the heart of the takeaway: tunnel vision and reductionism isn’t going to solve the problems of today. Hulme calls that combination of tunnel vision and reductionism in the context of climate change the ideology of “climatism”. Across his chapters, he explains how this ideology emerged, how climate science feeds it, what makes it attractive, why it is dangerous, and what antidotes exist to it. Each chapter is divided into snappy subsections, and they always end with a “retort”, i.e. an objection someone might raise to what Hulme argues in the chapter, and how he would respond to that objection. Between these retort sections, his final chapter, and a sizable chunk of the introduction, Hulme spends a lot of time raising and replying to objections, recognising the potential for readers (especially those with bad intentions) to misinterpret his thesis. It makes for somewhat repetitive reading, but given the scope of his audience and sensitive nature of the topic, it’s probably justified.

My respect for Hulme and this book does not mean I agree with everything he says. On the one hand, his formulation of climatism is somewhat lacking in nuance, with a focus on all the arguments and perspectives the ideology in its purest form entails but lacking a sense that its adherents lie on a scale from moderate proponent to die-hard ideologue. The examples he points towards give the impression that this group of people share the same worldview, but to me it is still unclear how large and homogenous that group is. This does not invalidate Hulme’s criticism, but does raise the risk of it being levelled against a strawman. On the other hand, I find his belief in the SDGs as a strong guiding principle for mitigating climatism to be too optimistic. Yes this framework provides a more heterogenous set of policy priorities to work towards, but it does so mainly on paper. I did not get a sense from this book whether and to what extent this promise of holism has been fulfilled, or whether it too falls prey to reductionism (Hulme’s true foe).

Either way, even if the central argument might rub some people the wrong way, I would widely recommend this book as an accessible and concise reminder that science, politics, and the environment are complex things, and that that fact alone should make us wary of climate change narratives that revolve around a single problem and a single solution.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.