Understanding Microexperiences of Climate Change: How Climate Ethnography Informs Collaboration, Adaptation, and Effective Responses

Projections of climate change, biodiversity loss, and associated socioeconomic impacts are increasingly dire. In this volume, we turn our attention from the spectacular scenes of climate disruption to the slow and subtle, the small but consequential shifts in the species and landscapes that we humans interact with on a constant basis. This introductory chapter offers an analytical framework for the chapters that follow. Synthesizing lessons from environmental anthropology, we argue that microexperiences of change offer a critical but neglected lens for understanding the Anthropocene as a new geological, cultural, and political era. Focusing on microexperiences allows us to examine how individuals and communities are experiencing climate change in intimately meaningful ways, how they are constructing knowledge based on these experiences, and how that knowledge shapes their responses. This in turn provides unique insights into the diverse ways that people are embedded in their environments; the dynamics of differentiation, inequality, and violence that result from that; and how these affect knowledge, denialism, and climate responses. Perhaps most importantly, examining climate change at the resolution of microexperiences has the advantage of showing us change where many people—perhaps especially those whose livelihoods, social relations, and cultures are most intimately linked to the environment—see it, feel it, and make sense of it. Careful analysis and appreciation of these microexperiences and the resulting knowledge systems may therefore broaden the foundation for shared understanding and collaborative action to address climate change in an inclusive and effective manner.