Making sense of climate change: orientations to adaptation

In order for people to act in relation to climate change they need to make sense of it. For societies across the world climate change is a relatively new phenomenon. We are witnessing the early development of societal sense-making; the social construction of meaning.
Multiple nuclei of meaning form are supported and grow into identifiable patterns, die out or remain peripheral through lack of social support. How the emerging patterns of meaning unfold has important implications for how and when society responds to climate change.
Using a new approach to the collection and analysis of narrative, Lynam highlighted the rich insights on different social understandings of climate change and social adaptation to climate change.