Responding to Climate Change

          Climate change is now recognized as one of the most challenging and complex problems facing

humanity—the problem is real, the stakes are high, and there is no single “solution.” No measure

will be met with the instant  gratification that is often expected by people in modern, high-energy

consumption societies. We are already committed to changes based on past emissions of greenhouse

gases into the atmosphere, and it is the future that is being decided (Parry et al., 2008a). Actions taken

over the next decade will have an enormous influence on the rate and magnitude of climate change

that will take place over the next centuries, and both adaptation and mitigation are seen as necessary

responses (Parry et al. 2008b; Schellnhuber, 2008).

          In this article I discuss why an integral approach is not only necessary for addressing climate change,

but urgent. I argue that an emphasis on understanding climate change from a an objective, systems

perspective has downplayed the importance of subjective, interior dimensions of climate change,

when in fact the integration of both aspects is needed. I then present six reasons why an integral

approach can be considered both useful and necessary for responding to climate change. Finally, I

consider what integral theory might offer to current policy debates about one of the world’s climate

change “hot spots”—the Arctic region