Long Live the Climate Machine!

Abstract

This paper tries to grasp the different links of the issue of climate change in the public debate from the point of view of adaptation. Firstly, it is a question of the novelty introduced by the climate problem on ecological sentiment, a novelty which, apart from the dramatic nature of the consequences, appears fundamental on several levels. It is necessary to deal with the all-encompassing nature of the climate issue. Secondly, given the diversity of risks related to climate change and their capacity to destabilize democracies, what kind of adaptation is conceivable? We need to go back to the root of what adaptation means, and consider the fact that adaptation emerges from an aesthetic that amounts to taking care of ourselves in the environment, paying attention to what makes our lives possible. Thirdly, and finally, given the total nature of these risks, it is relevant to redefine the links between risk representations and risk itself. Faced with this, lost in the whirlwind of media realities, adaptation can be thought of as a way of anchoring in territories so as to give a place to possible collective actions and learning in connection with living environments.