Sigtuna Think Piece 3: The Wider Context Of Climate Change Discourse

Abstract

This paper discusses climate change from the perspective of metaphorical vision. The paper asserts that there is one central metaphorical vision driving Western societies, notably the metaphorical vision of the enemy. The paper goes on to explain how this metaphorical vision manifests itself and how it is maintained through psychological and other social interests. It then provides an empirical example of a climate change project in Kenya that demonstrates the visibility of this metaphor surrounding climate change, and then provides a viewpoint of a business scientist, Bjorn Lomberg, who challenges conventional discourse on climate change. The paper finally considers what the educational implications are of perpetuating enemy metaphorical visions through climate change education and challenges researchers to consider whether the enemy metaphor can be overturned and changed as central metaphor in climate change education.