Fall Series 2022
Cultivating ‘Care’ for the Climate: From the Intimate to the Planetary
The current state of ecological, political and public health crises unfolding across the globe calls for a renewed attention to ‘care.’ In their recent ‘Care Manifesto,’ the Care Collective – an interdisciplinary group of scholars – articulate ‘care’ as “a social capacity and activity involving the nurturing of all that is necessary for the welfare and flourishing of life. Above all, to put care centre stage means recognising and embracing our interdependencies (2020).” Our current time demands, they argue, a radical rethinking of ‘care’ and a moral and political recognition of our responsibility to one another, other species, and the Earth.
Faced with the prospect of increasingly unliveable environments, the question of how ‘one ought to live’ (Laidlaw, 2002: 316), is particularly resonant. The turn in the humanities and social sciences to the ‘ethical’ (Fassin 2013; Laidlaw 2002) requires that we move beyond ‘matters of concern’ (Latour 2004) to ‘matters of care’ (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017); it demands of us as scholars (and citizens) to move from states of examination to active practices of care.
This Weather Matters series hopes to explore how the lens of ‘care’ can be useful in bringing forward a ‘relational politics’ (Massey 2005) that acknowledges our interdependent fates and opens the possibility of an alternative ecological contract premised on the flourishing of all life forms. In particular, we hope to explore the following themes:
The challenge of caring for the planetary: Climate change is, as Timothy Morton (2013) observes, a ‘hyperobject,’ massively distributed in time and space. As such, its planetary scale diffuses agency and ‘invisibilizes risks,’ (Beck 1986) thus obscuring accountability. What is the relationship, then, between responsibility and care? Additionally, how does care scale up to the planetary? Fiona Robinson (2011) writes “care does not, at first sight, seem to respond well to distance.” What does it mean to care for an abstract, global ‘planet’ or ‘climate’? Is it even possible, or do we need to heed Latour’s (2018) call to bring climate back ‘down to Earth’ and work to enact care within a ‘dwelling place?” Lastly, how is ‘caring’ for the climate acted upon differently in the context of ‘climate mitigation’ versus ‘adaptation?’
Climate anxiety and intimate forms of care: Amidst this summer’s heat waves, wildfires, war, and political stagnation on climate change, it is hard not to feel the weight of existential threat bearing down on us. What are examples of intimate practices of care, for other species, for the soil, rocks, and water, and each other, and how are these practices cultivated in the face of growing need, stress, and concern? How can ‘eco’ modes of care provide earthly connection, meaning, and restore hope? And, on the other end, when does ‘caring’ become too big a burden, and how can we (individually and collectively) manage this burden in light of our ethical duty to care and act? Lastly, how does care help or hinder the translation between ‘feelings’ and ‘action’ (Buch 2015)?
Care in climate economies: The commodification of ‘care’ has long been a feature of the intimate politics of globalisation and neoliberal societies (see Fraser 2010, Boris and Parreñas, 2010). ‘Care,’ or at least, an acknowledgement of value, has been integrated into financial instruments and corporate structures in a new turn to ‘stakeholder’ and environmental capitalism, as seen in the surge of ESGs, CSR, carbon markets, and other forms of ecological accounting that aim to quantify and measure climate benefits and deficits. Can we say that these new forms of ‘valuing’ climate within financial and economic systems are a type of care, that is, does ‘valuing’ equate to caring? Is holding polluters (and perhaps consumers) to account (for their lack of care) a form of ‘care’? And, more fundamentally, can ‘care’ fit into an alienating neoliberal market order?
Other topics and themes to consider:
Multispecies forms of care and/or the capacity of non-humans and the planet to cultivate care ‘back’
Negotiating competing or contradictory forms of care, and/or exploring how certain forms of care may be entangled with historically-situated expressions of violence and power (Amrith, 2019)
Care in the context of labor and work
The role of science and international bodies (like the IPCC) in setting the epistemological framework, bringing forth data, findings, and models, and defining the stakes within which practices of care are mediated and performed
Ecofeminist practices of care
Imagining ‘care’ within a ‘Gaia’ cosmology (see Latour 2017, 2018)
Instructions
We invite contributions from a range of disciplines – geography, anthropology, sociology, international relations, philosophy, political science, and beyond.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 16. Perspectives should be a maximum of 1500 words (or less) and we encourage contributions in a range of formats and media. Please submit at least one image that can be used as a thumbnail.
Send your perspectives to our editorial team: Pauline Destrée, Kimberly Schoemaker, Karl Dudman, Julio Rodríguez Stimson and Sacha Mouzin: contact.weathermatters@gmail.com