Thierry, Aaron;
Horn, Laura;
von Hellermann, Pauline;
Gardner, Charlie J;
(2023)
“No research on a dead planet”: preserving the socio-ecological conditions for academia.
Frontiers in Education
, 8
, Article 1237076. 10.3389/feduc.2023.1237076.
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Abstract
Despite thousands of higher education institutions (HEIs) having issued Climate Emergency declarations, most academics continue to operate according to ‘business-as-usual’. However, such passivity increases the risk of climate impacts so severe as to threaten the persistence of organized society, and thus HEIs themselves. This paper explores why a maladaptive cognitive-practice gap persists and asks what steps could be taken by members of HEIs to activate the academy. Drawing on insights from climate psychology and sociology, we argue that a process of ‘socially organized denial’ currently exists within universities, leading academics to experience a state of ‘double reality’ that inhibits feelings of accountability and agency, and this is self-reenforcing through the production of ‘pluralistic ignorance.’ We further argue that these processes serve to uphold the cultural hegemony of ‘business-as-usual’ and that this is worsened by the increasing neo-liberalization of modern universities. Escaping these dynamics will require deliberate efforts to break taboos, through frank conversations about what responding to a climate emergency means for universities’ – and individual academics’ – core values and goals.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | “No research on a dead planet”: preserving the socio-ecological conditions for academia |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/feduc.2023.1237076 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1237076 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 Thierry, Horn, von Hellermann and Gardner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, disavowal, higher education, institutional inertia, neoliberal university, socially organized denial, sustainability |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10217573 |
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