Currently multiple out-of-control bushfires are threatening dozens of towns in central and north-eastern Victoria, while other parts of the country swelter through another day of a heatwave.
Is it about time we shift the way we frame climate change? Could we treat it primarily as a social and political issue rather than an environmental and scientific one.
The Climate Change debate has long been about ‘listening to the science’. While this is needed, it’s not enough. It assumes a straightforward link between facts and policy. It overlooks the complexities of social change and the efforts of fossil fuel interests to block effective policy.
Politicians can no longer deny climate change exists, but they can shift blame to Nature and Natural Disasters, minimising their responsibility. Nature gets the blame instead of the ongoing mining and export of gas and coal.
Framing climate change as an environmental issue makes it seem like a problem that exists separately from society, politics, power, and culture. This view reinforces a Western mindset that has long divided people from nature.
Recognising the social aspects of climate change now is essential, or we risk normalising it.
The Green Outlaw 