Ecological Crisis, Sustainability and the Psychosocial Subject by Matthew Adams

Author:Matthew Adams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK, London

Interpretive Denial

Interpretive denial involves denying conventional interpretations of a phenomenon, without refuting its existence per se. Interpretive denial might involve the acceptance that climate change is happening, while denying that it is anthropogenic. Associated explanations may draw on ideas about natural fluctuations, the inability of human interventions to address or reverse warming, or an emphasis on the supposed benefits of anthropogenic climate change for human societies, other species or landscapes. This form of denial is most often associated with the ‘euphemisms, technical jargon and word-changing’ of governments and big business (Norgaard 2011, p. 10; Washington and Cook 2011). However, it also informs the denialism discourses of avowed ‘climate sceptics’. Attempts to positively spin climate change, or refute its anthropogenic origins, are well-documented tenets of the armoury of climate ‘skepticism’ (e.g. McCright and Dunlap 2000; Oreskes 2010; Washington and Cook 2011). Everyday examples of mundane denial similarly though less systematically draw on similar rationalizations, e.g. ‘what about less influenza virus for example if it’s warmer weather, I don’t know’ (Hobson and Niemeyer 2013, p. 408). Interpretive denial involves a selective acceptance of climate science, in which humans are exonerated of blame or consequences muted; hence there is little credence given to the need to act collectively.

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