Written by a leading geographer of climate, this book offers a unique guide to students and general readers alike for making sense of this profound, far-reaching and contested idea. It presents climate change as an idea with a past, a present and a future.

Mike Hulme is Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fellow of Pembroke College. The focus of his research career has been the analysis and explanation of the idea of climate change and his work has been published extensively across the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. He is the author of nine books on climate change, including Contemporary Climate Change Debates: A Student Primer (Routledge, 2020). From 2000 to 2007 he was Founding Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, based at the University of East Anglia.

Section 1: Climate Histories, Geographies, and Knowledges 1. Climate and Culture Through History: climate change historicised 2. Climate Change and Science: climate change quantified Section 2: Finding the Meanings of Climate Change 3. Reformed Modernism: climate change assimilated 4. Sceptical Contrarianism: climate change contested 5. Transformative Radicalism: climate change mobilised 6. Subaltern Voices: climate change supplanted 7. Artistic Creativities: climate change reimagined 8. Religious Engagements: climate change transcended Section 3: Climate Change to Come 9. Governing Climate: climate change governed 10. Climate Imaginaries: climate change forever