Preface Article Swipe

At its core, this is a book about how people adapt and build resilience to global environmental changes, like climate change.But in its own small way, we hope this book helps move conversations from how experts best deploy techno-scientific 'solutions' to these challenges, to how all of usindividually and collectivelyculturally think, feel, and act relative to the environment, and particularly relative to seasons.We the editors -Scott and Arjanhave worked for quite some years as social scientists studying (and supporting) adaptation and resilience to climatic and environmental change.And we have both spent time on both sides of the so-called science-policy interface, where science informs collective decision-making, working in local and central government.We have seen 'science in action' (to reference Bruno Latour); the ways scientific knowledge is established by scientists, and also how this knowledge finds its way into political and social spheres, settings where society is debating the best ways to respond to change.But this has come with some frustration at a growing reliance on science and technology over other ways of knowing.Science is an indispensable resource for well-supported decisions on climate adaptation, but it is rarely sufficient on its own; we almost never have 'perfect information', major uncertainties usually persist.Indeed, as Dan Sarewitz showed us almost 20 years ago, this uncertainty can see scientific evidence fuel disagreement and confusion on how to adapt, rather than narrowing down the list of best possible options.What is more, science advice can come with a naïve assumption that decisions are mainly based on the best available science.Yet we have both witnessed, time and again, that other (often less explicit) influences often carry the day in public decision-making.Influences like values and emotions, political posturing, or cultural and common-sensical assumptions about the world; what we could call 'culture in action' to reference Ann Swidler.These are not irrational ways of making decisions; they are other legitimate ways of reasoning, as John Dryzek might say.They often are rooted in what societies and cultures value, and they are types of reason that we can all relate to because we employ them daily.Of course, this comes with its own uncertainties; people rarely agree unanimously on values, whether globally or locally, and judgements will change over time as well.But despite us all recognising the influence of culture and norms on decisions, the conversations on climate adaptation still mainly circle topics of science and policies, and as a result, we all continue to be frustrated by the lack of purchase that climate science is having in political, social and individuals' daily decisions.The recent Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change 6th Assessment Report continues to rec-