Science in Society: Climate Change and Climate Policies

"Hans von Storch and Nico Stehr, the authors of this anthology, reflect on the popular and scientific perception and construction of the phenomenon climate, climate change, climate policy and the impact of climate on society. In the early 1990s, the authors encountered notable resistance especially as they wrote about the urgency for societal adaptation to climate change. Something is wrong with our planet, and it is obvious that immediate action is needed to rectify the situation; the mankind activity that has been impacting on climate changes. However, the translation of scientific knowledge into society is not automatic or an autonomous force. Moving science into society is subject to economic, political, and cultural constraints and a central issue of the book. Nico Stehr is a sociologist specializing in the theory of modern society and the sociology of knowledge; Hans von Storch is a mathematician and is also physical climate scientist. Since the authors "inhabit" rather different scientific cultures, their collaboration moreover is genuinely interdisciplinary and exemplary for transdisciplinary work. More specifically, the book documents the interdisciplinary path and the wide range of themes that has occupied Nico Stehr and Hans von Storch during more than three decades of joint research and writing and that continue to be of benefit to current research and reflection on the interrelation between nature, democracy, society, governance, and climate"--