Epistemic pluralism and climate change

Contributor(s): Professor Mike Hulme, Professor Elizabeth Robinson | This lecture explores the merits of epistemic pluralism in understanding climate change today. Epistemic pluralism emphasises the need for diverse ways of knowing, analysing, and interpreting climate change—drawing insights from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. This event is based on a recently published book Climate Change Isn’t Everything by Professor Mike Hulme. In this talk, Professor Hulme will discuss “climatism”, an ideology that reduces politics and society to the singular goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by a given date. Accordingly, this event seeks to broaden the conversation. Hulme critiques climate reductionism, which frames contemporary problems exclusively through the lens of climate science and which overemphasizes the role of climate in shaping the future. Instead, he advocates for a more holistic approach that acknowledges the complexities and indeterminancies of social, political, and ecological systems. Through this lens of epistemic pluralism, he will argue that multiple forms of knowledge, inquiry and judgement can help liberal democracies better address the intertwined challenges of climate change, social justice, and political freedom.