Experiences and Ordinary Knowledge of Climate Change
Durand, Séverine
Experiences and Ordinary Knowledge of Climate Change - 2022.
18
Mostly documented using expert knowledge that is not easily grasped by non-expert people, climate change is perceived as a global phenomenon, remote from any lived experience of weather or the environment that it incurs. This article instead addresses climate evolutions that inhabitants and practitioners in mountain settings (Ecrins Natural Park) identify and experience through their own practices and activities. We highlight a set of experiential knowledge integrating not only heavily mediatized dimensions of climate change (such as glaciers melting, landslides, etc…) but also a range of local consequences of climate change regarding landscapes, plants and animals that are seldom documented. Intimately linked with practitioners’ senses and emotions in relation with their lived experiences of the environment, experiential knowledge fosters “adaptative tinkering” environmental practices through attempts to adjust practices and activities to shifting environmental conditions. However, as these evolutions are not documented in climate science, practitioners tend to doubt the legitimacy of their own observations. Yet, we argue that experiential knowledge, developed in specific places and based on lived experiences, emotions and senses, is critical to making enlightened and legitimate political decisions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Experiences and Ordinary Knowledge of Climate Change - 2022.
18
Mostly documented using expert knowledge that is not easily grasped by non-expert people, climate change is perceived as a global phenomenon, remote from any lived experience of weather or the environment that it incurs. This article instead addresses climate evolutions that inhabitants and practitioners in mountain settings (Ecrins Natural Park) identify and experience through their own practices and activities. We highlight a set of experiential knowledge integrating not only heavily mediatized dimensions of climate change (such as glaciers melting, landslides, etc…) but also a range of local consequences of climate change regarding landscapes, plants and animals that are seldom documented. Intimately linked with practitioners’ senses and emotions in relation with their lived experiences of the environment, experiential knowledge fosters “adaptative tinkering” environmental practices through attempts to adjust practices and activities to shifting environmental conditions. However, as these evolutions are not documented in climate science, practitioners tend to doubt the legitimacy of their own observations. Yet, we argue that experiential knowledge, developed in specific places and based on lived experiences, emotions and senses, is critical to making enlightened and legitimate political decisions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Réseaux sociaux