1 of 11

CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE: DOES A WAR METAPHOR HELP?

Adam R. Zemans

PhD Candidate

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies

Nova Southeastern University

2022 Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

Power from Below For a More Just and Durable Peace

Virtual Presentation

November 11, 2022

2 of 11

OUTLINE

  • Discussion of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement (Mangat and Dalby, 2018)
  • The use of a war metaphor results in more urgency and risk perception (Flushberg, Matlock & Thibodeau, 2017)
  • “War” denotes conflict and “inevitably [makes] enemies of other people” (Yoder, 2018)
  • In war enormous quantities of resources are required (Roberts, 2013)

3 of 11

THE WORLD IS ON ‘HIGHWAY TO CLIMATE HELL’�UN CHIEF WARNS AT COP27 SUMMIT

Harvey & Carrington (2022)

4 of 11

CLIMATE CHANGE IS OUR WORLD WAR II

Ocasio-Cortez (2016)

5 of 11

HOW TO WIN THE WAR ON GLOBAL WARMING

Walsh (2008)

6 of 11

BILL MCKIBBEN NEW REPUBLIC COVER

McKibben (2016)

7 of 11

HILLARY CLINTON PLANNED TO HAVE A 'CLIMATE MAP ROOM' IN THE WHITE HOUSE

McMahon (2016)

8 of 11

CLIMATE CHANGE IS NOT WORLD WAR

Scherschel (2019)

9 of 11

THE CLIMATE MOBILIZATION

The Climate Mobilization (2022)

Wikipedia (n.d.)

10 of 11

REFERENCES

  • Flusberg, S. J., Matlock, T., & Thibodeau, P. H. (2017). Metaphors for the war (or race) against climate change. Environmental Communication, 11(6), 769-783. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1289111
  • Harvey, F. & Carrington, D. (2022, November 7). World is on ‘highway to climate hell’, UN chief warns at Cop27 summit. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/cop27-climate-summit-un-secretary-general-antonio-guterres?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
  • Mangat, R., Dalby, S., Kapuscinski, A. R., & Moore, M. L. (2018). Climate and wartalk: Metaphors, imagination, transformation. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 6. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/doi/10.1525/elementa.313/112823/Climate-and-wartalk-Metaphors-imagination
  • McKibben, B. (2016, August16). Our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII. https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/bill-mckibben-our-only-hope-is-to-mobilize-like-we-did-in-wwii/
  • McMahon, J. (2016, May 8). Hillary Clinton plans to have a 'climate map room' in the white house, Podesta says. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2016/05/08/hillary-clinton-plans-a-climate-map-room-in-the-white-house-podesta/?sh=7781f836972d

​

​

11 of 11

REFERENCES

  • Ocasio-Cortez, A. (n.d.). Climate change is our world war II [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5GVXmHgy1A
  • Roberts, D. (2013, May 02). What would ‘wartime mobilization’ to fight climate change look like?. Grist Magazine.  https://grist.org/climate-energy/what-would-wartime-mobilization-to-fight-climate-change-look-like/
  • The Climate Mobilization. (2022). We are in a climate emergency. https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/
  • Walsh, B. (2008, April 28). How to win the war on global warming. Time. https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20080428,00.html
  • Wang, S. & Smith, A. (2020, September 23). Bold and fair climate mobilization looks different from WWII. https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/ww2-climate-mobilization
  • Wikipedia. (n.d.). The climate mobilization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climate_Mobilization
  • Yoder, D. (2018, December 05). War of words. Grist Magazine. https://grist.org/climate/the-war-on-climate-the-climate-fight-are-we-approaching-the-problem-all-wrong/
  • Scherschel, F. (2019). Climate change is not world war [Image]. The Ney York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/opinion/climate-change-mobilization.html

​