Fifth National Climate Assessment Ch. 20: Social Systems and Justice
Citation:
Eisenhauer, E. AND K. Maxwell. Fifth National Climate Assessment Ch. 20: Social Systems and Justice. To be Presented at Healthy and Resilient Communities Research Webinar Series, Washington, D.C., DC, March 12, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
Chapter 20 of the Fifth National Climate Assessment on Social Systems and Justice assesses research from the social sciences on climate change drivers, impacts, and responses. This is a presentation for the Healthy and Resilience Communities Research Webinar. This webinar will review the chapter’s three key messages: social systems are changing the climate and distributing its impacts inequitably; social systems structure how people perceive and communicate about climate change; and climate justice is possible if processes like migration and energy transitions are equitable. It will also discuss related materials from the report’s sectoral and regional chapters.
Description:
Climate change is a result of human behavior and has differentiated effects on communities and peoples around the United States and the globe. It is inextricably tied to a history of human development and decision-making—from individuals to organizations to entire societies. For this reason, we cannot fully understand or respond to current or future changes in climate without understanding this history of human organization—that is, without understanding social systems. This chapter uses three dimensions of analysis to explore whether the actions taken to create, mitigate, or adapt to climate change are expected to produce just or unjust outcomes.