The Frame Game

“Climate change could devastate the global economy…if left unchecked. Unless we act now … these consequences, disastrous as they are, will be irreversible.” And so the frame is established: Climate change is a phenomenon that is happening to humans and that needs to be fixed or stopped. We are passive victims in its wake, but we also have the ability (though our military and industrial might) to fight it. We can have a war on climate change that will beat back the evils of this strange but merely temporary situation, and preserve our way of life (which of course had nothing significant to do with creating climate change in the first place).

Disastrous, indeed.

Queries: what does the phrase “climate change” actually represent? Does it include not only the actual meteorological shifts in the weather patterns, but also the impacts of human activities on the rest of the community of life? Why is it important for our culture to frame environmental destruction in strict economic/scientific terms? How does this frame apply the responsibility for dealing with (let alone causing) climate change to different centers of power in our culture?