Essays & Blog Posts

Climate Change: What Are We Allowed To Disagree About?

Map illustration depicting two faces in profile labeled "Denial" and "Concern," with city names and regions reflecting emotional states, separated by a body of water symbolizing the climate change debate.

In October 2023, the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, the American psychology professor, Deborah Prentice, delivered her first Annual Address to Senate House. Her address highlighted the imperative for university students to learn to “disagree well” about difficult subjects and for universities to facilitate this learning. Prentice announced her intention to moderate a series […]

A pile of one hundred dollar bills scattered and overlaid with a warm, golden light effect.

Solar geoengineering for profit

Mike Hulme |
The Israeli-U.S. startup Stardust Solutions announced last week that it raised $60 million in venture capital in its latest funding round – the largest venture investment to date for a for-profit company developing solar geoengineering technology, particularly injection of...
Illustration showing two hands pressed together in prayer on the left and a stylized globe on the right, with trees and animal silhouettes below—symbolizing the meeting of religious knowledge and IPCC-driven environmental awareness.

The IPCC and Religious Knowledge

Mike Hulme |
By Mike Hulme[1] and Arthur C Petersen[2] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is in the early stages of establishing its Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).  These preparations include holding a workshop early in 2026 on ‘engaging diverse knowledge...

Is the quest for net-zero a form of scientism?

Mike Hulme |

Discussing a tendency in contemporary politics to reduce issues to questions of scientific measures of climate change, Mike Hulme argues for more diverse understandings of climate and change and its impacts on society. I discussed these ideas in my lecture at the London School of Economics, ‘Epistemic Pluralism and Climate Change’ on 10 March 2025, […]