Climate Change – ‘the Measure of All Things.’ The Missing Map of Climate Narratives

This study undertakes a historical analysis to build a map of climate narratives spanning from the late 1960s to the present. Our findings reveal a previously uncharted map of climate change narratives, where we identify two key shortcomings that still need to be addressed within the academic literature. First, inherent limitations exist within each narrative. These narratives function within the confines of their respective theoretical frameworks, shaped and constrained by their unique perspectives. The proliferation of numerous narratives highlights a key challenge: no single narrative can fully address the complexity of climate change. Indeed, each climate narrative must adapt to the evolving realities presented by climate change. Second, climate narratives have not sufficiently integrated perspectives from territories and cultural contexts beyond the dominant Western ones, thereby marginalizing or overlooking voices and experiences from non-Western geographies.