World Social Science Report 2013
Changing Global Environments
Produced by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and UNESCO, and published by the OECD, the 2013 World Social Science Report represents a comprehensive overview of the field gathering the thoughts and expertise of hundreds of social scientists from around the world.
This edition focuses on the transformative role of the social sciences in confronting climate and broader processes of environmental change, and in addressing priority problems from energy and water, biodiversity and land use, to urbanisation, migration and education.
The report includes 100 articles written by 150 authors from 41 countries all over the world. Authors represent some 24 disciplines, mainly in the social sciences.
The contributions highlight the central importance of social science knowledge for environmental change research, as a means of understanding changing environments in terms of social processes and as framework for finding concrete solutions towards sustainability.
Are increasing greenhouse gas emissions inevitable?
Western development over the past century involves the interdependent development of a cluster of high-carbon socio-technical systems and related social practices. Reversing these systems will be a massive challenge. Instead a set of low-carbon models or systems are needed, using new practices of low-carbon innovation. This article explores the likelihood of these developing as more than tiny niches, and ends by noting some green shoots of such alternatives.