Hope and Fear: The Theological Side of Framing Environmental Change

摘要

The public response to climate change highlights a long-standing issue in environmentalism: scientific information, public policy, and individual actions tend to work independently of (and unfortunately often at odds with) one another. Why is this so? In 'What will it mean to be green?', Cheryl Hall (2013) highlights research on framing environmental issues to diagnose the root of the problem. She writes, 'More than anything, what matters is how information is interpreted, what meaning it holds for people' (Hall, 2013). Scientific literacy and information is not enough; understanding only emerges when a narrative context serves to illuminate meaning. As philosophical hermeneutics suggests, stories matter. What is more, stories are unavoidable-understanding and action both emerge from a horizon of narration.