Karen O'Brien's research focuses on climate change, including how climate change interacts with globalization processes and implications for human security. She is interested in how interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to global change research can contribute to a better understanding of how societies both create and react to change, and the particular roles of perceptions, values , and worldviews in transformations to sustainability. She has participated in four IPCC reports and sits on the Science Committee for Future Earth, a 10-year research initiative for global change. She is also co-founder of cCHANGE.no, a website that provides perspectives on transformation in a changing climate. Her current research projects include "Voices of the future: Values and visions of Norwegian Youth on Responses to Climate Change" and CLIMATE & BELIEFS: Exploring the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation.
Karen O'Brien: Climate Change and Transformations to Climate Change: You Matter More Than You Think
Many people are worried about climate change. They are concerned not only about the impacts, but also our inability to respond at the rate, scale, speed, and depth that is called for by international agreements. Climate anxiety, climate trauma, and climate depression are rapidly becoming part of our vocabulary. A growing field of research on transformative change looks at how we can shift systems and cultures at scale to meet the 2030 Agenda, and emphasizes the need to think, act, and design differently. How do we do this? In this talk, I will discuss the practical, political, and personal spheres of transformation and present a relational approach to scaling solutions to climate change. I’ll argue that we need to make a “quantum leap,” which involves a recognition that each of us matters more than we think.
Professor Karen O'Brien is an internationally recognized expert on climate change, vulnerability, and adaptation.