There are increasing calls from the global environmental change research community for new strategies for translating knowledge into action. Such calls are not new, yet they are often based on the assumption that more solutions-oriented knowledge about environmental problems will lead to desired outcomes. In this progress report, I argue that it is time to shift attention to the issue of change itself, and to question some of the assumptions that reproduce certain types of knowledge and certain types of action over alternatives. I discuss an approach for challenging big assumptions, which draws greater attention to a broad body of social science research that renders many of the paradigmatic assumptions ambiguous or problematic. Finally, I consider the implications for human geography, including whether some of our own disciplinary assumptions are complicit in perpetuating paradigms that contribute to continued global environmental change.
BrownLR (2009) Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. New York: W.W. Norton.
8.
BrownPGGarverG (2009) Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
9.
CashDWClarkWCAlcockF (2003) Knowledge systems for sustainable development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences100: 8086–8091.
10.
CastreeNChattertonPAHeynenN (eds) (2010) The Point is to Change It: Geographies of Hope and Survival in an Age of Crisis. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
11.
ForsythT (2003) Critical Political Ecology. London: Routledge.
12.
GabrysJYusoffK (2012) Arts, sciences and climate change: Practices and politics at the threshold. Science as Culture21(1): 1–24.
13.
GardinerSM (2011) A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
14.
Gibson-GrahamJKRoelvinkG (2010) An economic ethics for the Anthropocene. In: CastreeNChattertonPAHeynenN (eds) The Point is to Change It: Geographies of Hope and Survival in an Age of Crisis. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 320–346.
15.
GiddensA (2009) The Politics of Climate Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
16.
GleickPAdamsRMAmasinoRM (2010) Climate change and the integrity of science. Science328(5979): 689–690.
HawkenP (2005) The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. New York: Harper Business.
19.
Hedlund-de WittA (2011) The rising culture and worldview of contemporary spirituality: A sociological study of potentials and pitfalls for sustainable development. Ecological Economics70: 1057–1065.
20.
HetheringtonRReidRGB (2010) The Climate Connection: Climate Change and Modern Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
21.
HollenderJAlperovitzGAsquithC (2010) Creating a game plan for the transition to a sustainable U.S. economy. Solutions Journal1(3): 36–41.
22.
HooperDUAdairECCardinaleBJ (2012) A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change. Nature486: 105–108.
23.
HopkinsR (2008) The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green.
24.
InglehartRWelzelC (2005) Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
JacksonT (2009) Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. Abingdon: Earthscan.
27.
JacksonW (2010) Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.
28.
KahanD (2012) Cultural cognition as a conception of the cultural theory of risk. In: HillerbrandRSandinPRoeserS (eds) Handbook of Risk Theory: Epistemology, Decision Theory, Ethics and Social Implications of Risk. London: Springer, 725–760.
29.
KasserT (2011) Cultural values and the well-being of future generations: A cross-national study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psych42: 206–215
KeganRLaheyLL (2009) Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
32.
LawhonMMurphyJT (2012) Socio-technical regimes and sustainability transitions: Insights from political ecology. Progress in Human Geography36(3): 354–378.
33.
LawsonV (2007) Geographies of care and responsibility. Annals of the Association of American Geographers97(1): 1–11.
34.
LeichenkoRO’BrienKSoleckiW (2010) Climate change and the global financial crisis: A case of double exposure. Annals of the Association of American Geographers100(4): 963–972.
35.
LoorbachD (2007) Transition Management: New Mode of Governance for Sustainable Development. Utrecht: International Books.
36.
MagnaghiA (2000) The Urban Village: A Charter for Democracy and Local Self-Sustainable Development. London: Zed Books.
37.
MeadowsDH (2008) Thinking in Systems: A Primer. London: Earthscan.
38.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Framework for Assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press.
39.
MoserSDillingL (2011) Communicating climate change: Closing the science-action gap. In: DryzekJNorgaardRSchlosbergE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 161–174.
40.
NorgaardK (2011) Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions, and Everyday Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
41.
PrincenT (2005) The Logic of Sufficiency. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
42.
O’BrienK (2012) Global environmental change (2): From adaptation to deliberate transformation. Progress in Human Geography36(5): 667–676.
43.
O’BrienK (2013) The courage to change: Adaptation from the inside-out. In: MoserSBoykoffM (eds) Successful Adaptation: Linking Science and Practice in Managing Climate Change Impacts. London: Routledge, forthcoming.
44.
RaskinPBanuriTGallopínG (2002) Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead. Report of the Global Scenario Group. Boston, MA: Stockholm Environment Institute, Tellus Institute.
45.
RavetzJ (2006) Post-normal science and the complexity of transitions towards sustainability. Ecological Complexity3(4): 275–284.
46.
ReasonPBradburyH (2006) The Handbook of Action Research. London: SAGE.
47.
RifkinJ (2009) The Empathic Civilization. Cambridge: Polity Press.
48.
ScharmerCO (2009) Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges – The Social Technology of Presencing. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
49.
SengePSmithBKruschwitzN (2010) The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
50.
ShoveE (2010) Beyond the ABC: Climate change policy and theories of social change. Environment and Planning A42: 1273–1285.
51.
SkoleD (2004) Geography as a great intellectual melting pot and the preeminent interdisciplinary environmental discipline. Annals of the Association of American Geographers94(4): 739–743.
52.
SwyngedouwE (2010) Apocalypse forever? Post-political populism and the spectre of climate change. Theory, Culture and Society27(2–3): 213–232.
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) (2011) 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Revealing Risk, Redefining Development. Geneva: UNISDR.
55.
UrryJ (2011) Climate and Society. Cambridge: Polity.
56.
VogelCMoserSKaspersonRE (2007) Linking vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience science to practice: Pathways, players, and partnerships. Global Environmental Change17(3–4): 349–364.
57.
XieJSreenivasanSKornissG (2011) Social consensus through the influence of committed minorities. Physical ReviewE 84: 011130.
