Anthropology & Climate Change

Causes & Impacts of Climate Change

Anthropologists all over the world are working to understand the implications of climate change and develop concrete solutions to one of the most pressing issues of our time. Anthropologists study the anthropogenic influences driving climate change, the governance systems for dealing with climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the human impacts and ramifications of global climate change.

Below are resources to learn more about the causes and impacts of climate change.

Changing the Atmosphere: Anthropology and Climate Change Final Report to the AAA Executive Board

The Climate Change Messenger Matters as Much as the Message by Adam Hodges
What Ethnology Can Tell Us about the Consequences of Climate Change by Ian Skoggard
Why Climate Matters, Statement #1, by Shirley J Fiske: Political Gridlock and Climate Justice
Green Consumerism is No Solution by Richard Wilk
Thinking Big About Consumerism by Richard Wilk
Hello Anthropocene: Climate Change and Anthropology article by Jason Antrosio & Sallie Han
Forced Migration? Facing an Uncomfortable Future by Anthony Oliver-Smith
An Arid World? Can We Learn from Other Nations? by Kathleen Galvin
UNESCO Conference on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change by Ben Orlove
Climate Wars (via SAPIENS)
Historical Summary of Anthropological Thought on Climate Change
Feeling the Heat: The Urban Response to Climate Change
The Carbon Fix: Forest Carbon, Social Justice, and Environmental Governance
Mitigating Climate Change: It Starts With Better Ocean Data by Ayesha Renyard

THE ANTHROPOLOGIST considers the fate of the planet from the perspective of an American teenager. Over five years, she travels alongside her mother, Susan Crate, an anthropologist studying the impact of climate change on indigenous communities. According to a SAPIENS review, "the film does what the cultural anthropology of climate change also seeks to do: It humanizes those affected, telling their stories in detail and with compassion."

Learn About the Social Science Perspectives

What You Can Do About Climate Change

Bringing Climate Change Home: Empowering Communities
Susie Crate, a Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, is offering a program to work with communities adjacent to anthropology departments nationwide (and even internationally!)—in your hometown! Learn more about the opportunities that are available to begin coordinating a program that could work in your community.

Beyond Doom and Gloom: Engage in Climate and Energy Solutions
Are you or your students worried about climate change? Are you or your students interested in a cleaner energy future? Are you connecting your students to high impact solutions? This initiative from the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability uses expert, easy-to-use materials that involve students in important civic engagement solutions (a high impact learning practice). They can be used in any course and in campus activities. Visit the educators’ page, the students’ page (including a motivating two minute video), and the webinar to see how you can be part of reducing doom and gloom and share opportunities for progress and applied learning.

Search the Open Anthropology Research Repository (OARR) for more information.

Search the OARR

AAA & Climate Change

The position of the AAA, as articulated in the AAA Statement on Humanity and Climate Change (PDF) is summarized below:

Climate change is a present reality that alters our physical environment and impacts human cultures around the globe.
Climate change intensifies underlying problems—poverty and economic disparities, food and water security, and armed conflict—heightening these issues to the point of widespread crisis.
We can expect to see widespread impacts on communities as they face dislocation and pressure to migrate.
While climate change affects all of Earth’s inhabitants, the impacts will fall unevenly and with particular weight on those already affected by existing vulnerabilities.
Specific human actions and choices drive climate change by emphasizing fossil fuel as the primary energy source, creating a culture of consumerism, and favoring land use practices that undermine ecological resilience.
The archaeological record reveals diverse human adaptations and innovations to climate stresses occurring over millennia, providing evidence that is relevant to contemporary human experience.
Climate change is a global problem with local and regional impacts that require local and regional solutions. It is important for there to be community involvement in crafting, determining, and adopting measures for adaptation.
Climate change is rooted in social institutions and cultural habits. Climate change is not a natural problem, it is a human problem.

The AAA appointed a commission to investigate the breadth of anthropological research on global climate change. The 2014 report can be found here (PDF).

Changing the Atmosphere: Anthropology and Climate Change (PDF) is a comprehensive summary of the role anthropologists can play in studying and mitigating the effects of climate change.

View the PDF Changing the Atmosphere

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