A Sociology of the Unthinkable: Grappling with the Climate Emergency

In just the past five years, the climate emergency has evolved from meaty science fiction, or ‘cli-fi’, to become front page news across the Western world, residents of which have been blind-sided by evacuations, destroyed homes and cancelled insurance policies, or just ruined holiday plans. In those regions of the globe defined as ‘less developed,’ the ‘Global South,’ and the '4th World,' the strife wrought by climate change is piled on top of the ongoing strife wrought by centuries of neoliberal and colonial exploitation. A growing number of climate scientists agree that the culmination of such impacts and those yet to unfold, resulting from continued combustion of fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emitting processes, poses a clear and present threat to that collection of modern social systems we often think of as 'civilization.' No longer simply the stuff that good movies are made of, the climate crisis is real and it is here. Does sociology have the tools—methodological and theoretical—and do sociologists have the fortitude—the emotional and professional courage—to grapple with this unprecedented moment in human history? In this Panel Session, a set of panelists representing a spectrum of positionalities and perspectives within our discipline weigh in.