A cartoon of a globe with people on it, reflecting on climatism.

Climatism and the Reification of Global Temperature

Mike Hulme | 24/10/2018 | 2 Comments

Over the last 40 years global-mean surface air temperature – ‘global temperature’ for short – has gained an extraordinary role in the science, politics and public discourse of climate change. What was once a number crudely calculated through averaging...

A model of a theatre with a stage and chairs, designed for a three-acts drama.

The first climate scenario: a drama in three acts

Mike Hulme | 29/08/2018

The first scientific paper using the terminology of ‘scenario’ to describe the possible future evolution of climate was published in 1977 by the German meteorologist Hermann Flohn. It appeared as the first paper in the very first issue of...

Pink flowers flourish in a field near a building, exemplifying the Anthropocene.

Climate in the Anthropocene

Mike Hulme | 24/07/2018

The idea of climate only makes sense when there is a degree of stability in some set of conditions, whether these be atmospheric, economic, political or moral. When everything is changing and no stable condition is possible — the...

The creation of Adam by Michelangelo fills knowledge gaps.

‘Gaps’ in knowledge: do they exist? Can they be filled?…

Mike Hulme | 22/06/2018

This essay on ‘gaps in knowledge’ is now published in the journal Environmental Humanities. I analyse calls for knowledge gap-filling around climate change by asking and answering three specific questions: What sorts of knowledge are we dealing with? How...

A group of people sitting in a room, talking to each other, engaged in a disagreement.

‘Disagreement is always good’ – an interview with Mike Hulme

Mike Hulme | 26/02/2018

Following my talk to the K3 Congress on Climate Change Communication in Salzburg last October, I was interviewed by the Deutsches Klima Konsortium (K3) website: “After the conference, author and professor Mike Hulme sat down with us to talk about...

A painting of a man in a tenacious grip on his boat in a storm.

‘We Always Get the Weather We Deserve’: The Tenacious Grip of Moral Accountability

Mike Hulme | 25/01/2018

[This essay is forthcoming in Gnosis, The Italian Journal of Intelligence.] Abstract: Different cosmologies, religious thought, political ideologies, social practices and scientific paradigms of knowledge all contribute to the rich cultural matrix in which theories of climatic change and...

The sun is setting over the River Thames in London, painting a perfect portrait of the Anthropocene era.

Weather-Worlds in the Anthropocene and the End of Climate

Mike Hulme | 03/11/2017

This new essay has been written as a contribution to a collaborative double issue of the journal Weber with the Rachel Carson Center, on the theme ‘Transformations of the Anthropocene’. It is scheduled to appear in autumn 2018 (Issue...

A collage of religious symbols, including Buddhist, Islamic, and Buddhist, each carrying significant meaning.

Climate Change and the Significance of Religion

Mike Hulme | 15/07/2017

Published in today’s issue of Economic & Political Weekly in India, this Essay argues that there is a growing sense that religion has a part to play in shaping our responses to climate change. Merely understanding climate science, or...

On the ethics of fossil fuel divestment – a response to Willis Jenkins

Mike Hulme | 07/07/2017

A student of history and journalism from the University of Montana recently wrote to me about climate change and fossil fuel divestment (FFD). She had read and studied my arguments against FFD and claimed to appreciate the different sides...

One Man Does Not Control the Climate

Mike Hulme | 02/06/2017 | 1 Comment

It is important not to over-react to the news that Donald Trump wishes to withdraw the USA from the Paris Agreement and seek to renegotiate a ‘fairer deal’ for America. The wailing and grieving around the media that has accompanied yesterday’s announcement is exactly the sort of reaction that Trump is seeking to provoke. It […]

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Mike Hulme

Professor Mike Hulme's Site

Essays & Blog Posts

Climatism and the Reification of Global Temperature

The first climate scenario: a drama in three acts

Climate in the Anthropocene

‘Gaps’ in knowledge: do they exist? Can they be filled?…

‘Disagreement is always good’ – an interview with Mike Hulme

‘We Always Get the Weather We Deserve’: The Tenacious Grip of Moral Accountability

Weather-Worlds in the Anthropocene and the End of Climate

Climate Change and the Significance of Religion

On the ethics of fossil fuel divestment – a response to Willis Jenkins

One Man Does Not Control the Climate