Climate Change – Perspectives on well-being, human agency and transformation
Maynooth University Department of Geography invites you to attend a joint seminar and discussion with two of the leading international scholars on the human dimensions of climate change.
Climate change and impacts on well-being – Prof. Neil Adger
Climate change is already affecting the natural world and ecosystems globally and has significant economics costs. But how do the impacts of climate change affect the things we care about, given that well-being involves material, health, subjective and relational elements? This talk outlines how impacts of weather-related extremes affect individual and relational elements of well-being, based on ongoing analysis of flood risk and its burden on people and communities, and the implications of the wider conception of well-being for responses and strategies for adaptation.
Climate Change: From Adaptation to Transformation – Prof. Karen O’Brien
Adaptation has been increasingly promoted as a key strategy for reducing risk and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Yet what qualifies as successful adaptation when the impacts are the result of human activities? Who decides the future to which we must adapt? In this talk, I distinguish between technical problems and adaptive challenges and discuss why successful adaptation to climate change will only be realized through social transformations. The talk will draw on research from the AdaptationCONNECTS project, which focuses on the role of creativity, collaboration, empowerment and flexibility in realizing adaptation through transformation.
About the Speakers
Neil Adger is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Exeter. He has been researching climate change impacts, adaptation and resilience throughout his career and has contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, The Lancet Commission on Climate Change and Health and the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment process as well as working with colleagues at Maynooth.
Karen O’Brien is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is interested in integral approaches to understanding and addressing global environmental challenges. Karen’s research focuses on the relationships between climate change adaptation and transformations to sustainability. She is the co-founder of cCHANGE.no, an organization that provides perspectives on transformation in a changing climate.
Geography: Adger O'Brien Seminar
An updated list of our upcoming Seminars is available here :