Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Argumentation in Context
Vol. 7:3 (2018) ► pp.316–346

Engaging publics through climate math

Lessons from Boulder’s 2016 Climate Action Plan

| University of Colorado Boulder
| University of Colorado Boulder
| University of Colorado Boulder
| University of Colorado Boulder

Energy democracy hopes to foster community engagement and participation in shaping our transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy-based economy. These considerations result from critiques by environmental justice, climate justice, and just transition advocates. Although many are sympathetic to energy democracy ideals, climate goals often are articulated in math terms. This essay defines the aforementioned key terms and asks: what are the limitations and possibilities of engaging publics when climate action solely is articulated in numbers? A compelling case study is the City of Boulder – recognized as a global leader in climate science and a national leader in innovative environmental planning. This essay shares work from 2016, when the City shared a climate action plan for public feedback, supported several public participation events, and passed climate action legislation goals. We argue a just transition and energy democracy ideals are hindered if we reduce climate goals to math.

Keywords: accountability, carbon, climate math, energy democracy, environmental communication, public participation
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Case study background
  • Math as a climate action approach
  • Climate action plans as rhetorical genre
    • CAPS as a rhetorical genre
    • CAPS, argumentation, and public participation
  • Methods
  • Boulder’s bold plan
    • Carbon counting
    • Time
    • Accountability
    • Energy democracy
  • City designed “dialogues”
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.18020.nap
References

References

350.org
n.d. Retrieved from [URL]
400.350.org
n.d. “400 PPM.” Retrieved from [URL]
Aakhus, Mark
1999 “Science Court: Case Study in Designing Discourse to Manage Policy Controversy.” Knowledge, Technology & Policy 12(2): 20–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aakhus, Mark, and Marcin Lewiński
2017 “Advancing Polylogical Analysis of Large-Scale Argumentation: Disagreement Management in the Fracking Controversy.” Argumentation 31 (1): 179–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Allen, Benjamin
2017 “A Mathematical Model of Altruism.” The Atlantic. Retrieved from [URL]
Antonick, Gary
2013 “The Mathematics of Climate Change.” The New York Times, Retrieved from [URL]
Armstrong, Andrea, and Harriet Bulkeley
2014 “Micro-Hydro Politics: Producing and Contesting Community Energy in the North of England.” Geoforum 561: 66–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Asen, Robert
2010 “Reflections on the Role of Rhetoric in Public Policy.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 13 (1):121–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 Democracy, Deliberation, and Education. College Station, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Ingrid, Ann Peterson, Gregory Brown, and Clive McAlpine
2012 “Local Government Response to the Impacts of Climate Change: An Evaluation Of Local Climate Adaptation Plans.” Landscape and Urban Planning 1071:127–136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bassett, Ellen, and Vivek Shandas
2010 Innovation and climate action planning. Journal of the American Planning Association 76 (4):435–450. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Black, Laura W.
2008 “Deliberation, Storytelling, and Dialogic Moments.” Communication Theory 18 (1):93–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boulder’s Climte Commitment
2017 Boulder’s Climate Commitment: Rising to the Climate Challenge, Powering a Vibrant Future. Retrieved from [URL]
Bridge, Gavin
2010 “Geographies of peak oil: The other carbon problem.” Geoforum 41 (4): 523–530. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carcasson, Martín, and Leah Sprain
2016 “Beyond Problem Solving: Reconceptualizing the Work of Public Deliberation as Deliberative Inquiry.” Communication Theory 261: 41–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castán Broto, Vanesa, and Harriet Bulkeley
2013 “A Survey of Urban Climate Change Experiments in 100 Cities.” Global Environmental Change 231: 92–102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
City of Boulder
2017 “City of Boulder Announces 2017 Boulder Energy Challenge Winners.” Retrieved from [URL]
Cook, John, Naomi Oreskes, Peter T. Doran, William R. L. Anderegg, Bart Verheggen, Ed W. Maibach, J. Stuart Carlton, Stephan Lewandowsky, Andrew G. Skuce, and Sarah A. Green
2016 “Consensus on Consensus: A Synthesis of Consensus Estimates on Human-Caused Global Warming.” Environmental Research Letters 111:1–7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cox, Robert
2007 “Nature’s ‘Crisis Disciplines’: Does Environmental Communication Have an Ethical Duty?” Environmental Communication 11: 5–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Onís, Catalina M., and Phaedra C. Pezzullo
2017 “The Ethics of Embodied Engagement: Ethnographies of Environmental Justice.” In The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice, ed. by Ryan Holifield, Jayajit Chakraborty, and Gordon Walker, 231–240. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delgado, Fernando Pedro
1995 “Chicano Movement Rhetoric: An Ideographic Interpretation.” Communication Quarterly 431: 446–456. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
della Porta, Donatella
2014 Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairchild, Denise
2017 “Conclusion: Building an Energy Democracy Movement.” In Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions, ed. by Denise Fairchild, and Al Weinrub, 239–250. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fairchild, Denise, and Al Weinrub
2017 “Introduction.” In Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions, ed. by Denise Fairchild, and Al Weinrub, 1–20. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gastil, John
2008 Political Communication and Deliberation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodnight, G. Thomas
2012a “The Personal, Technical, and Public Spheres of Argument: A Speculative Inquiry into the Art of Public Deliberation.” Argumentation and Advocacy 481: 198–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012b “The Personal, Technical, and Public Spheres of Argument: A Note on 21st Century Critical Communication Inquiry.” Argumentation & Advocacy 48(4): 258 – 267. [URL]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Jean
2011 “Accounting for the Appeal to the Authority of Experts.” Argumentation, 25 (3): 285–296. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Jean, and Lee Honeycutt
2009 “When Science Goes Public: From Technical Arguments to Appeals to Authority.” Studies in Communication Sciences 9 (2): 19–30.Google Scholar
Griffin, Leland G.
1964 “The Rhetorical Structure of the ‘New Left’ Movement: Part I.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 501: 113–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gutmann, Amy, and Dennis Thompson
2004 Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hammerback, John C., and Richard J. Jensen
1994 “Ethnic Heritage as Rhetorical Legacy: The Plan of Delano.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 801: 53–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hicks, Darrin, and Lenore Langsdorf
1999 “Regulating Disagreement, Constituting Participants: A Critique of Proceduralist Theories of Democracy.” Argumentation 13 (2): 139–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoornweg, Daniel, Mila Freire, Marcus J. Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Belinda Yuen
2011 Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda. Retrieved from [URL] DOI logo
Hunt, Alistair, and Paul Watkiss
2011 “Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Cities: A Review of the Literature.” Climatic Change 1041: 13–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Sally
2008 “Black Box Arguments.” Argumentation 221: 437–446. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015 “Design Thinking in Argumentation Theory and Practice.” Argumentation 291: 243–263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Sally, and Mark Aakhus
2014 “Becoming More Reflective About the Role of Design in Communication.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 42 (2): 125–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jordan, Andrew, Tim Rayner, Heike Schroeder, Neil Adger, Kevin Anderson, Alice Bows, Corinne Le Quéré, Manoj Joshi, Sarah Mander, Nem Vaughan, and Lorraine Whitmarsh
2013 “Going Beyond Two Degrees? The Risks and Opportunities of Alternative Options.” Climate Policy 131: 751–769. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Just Transition Collaborative (JTC)
n.d.). Just Transition Collaborative University of Colorado Boulder. Retrieved from [URL]
Kahn, Brian
2016, September 27. “The World Passes 400 PPM Threshold. Permanently.” Climate Central. Retrieved from [URL]
Maldonado, Julie, Heather Lazrus, Shiloh-Kay Bennett, Karletta Chief, Carla May Dhillon, Bob Gough, Linda Kruger, Jeff Morisette, Stefan Petrovic, and Kyle Powys Whyte
2016 “The Story of Rising Voices: Facilitating Collaboration Between Indigenous and Western Ways of Knowing.” In Responses to Disasters and Climate Change: Understanding Vulnerability and Fostering Resilience, ed. by Michele Companion and Miriam S. Chaiken, 15–26. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martinez, Cecilia
2017 “From Commodification to the Commons: Charting the Pathway for Energy Democracy.” In Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions, ed. by Denise Fairchild, and Al Weinrub, 21–36. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McKibben, Bill
2012, July 19. “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math.” The Rolling Stone. Retrieved from [URL]
Middleton, Michael, Aaron Hess, Danielle Endres, and Samantha Senda-Cook
2015 Participatory Critical Rhetoric: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations for Studying Rhetoric In Situ. New York, NY: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Middleton, Michael, Samantha Senda-Cook, and Danielle Endres
2011 “Articulating Rhetorical Field Methods: Challenges and Tensions.” Western Journal of Communication 75 (4): 386–406. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Millard-Ball, Adam
2012 “The Limits to Planning: Causal Impacts of City Climate Action Plans.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 331: 5–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Musi, Elena, and Mark Aakhus
2018 “Discovering Argumentative Patterns in Energy Polylogues: A Macroscope for Argument Mining.” Argumentation 32 (3): 397–430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neves, Ana Rita, and Vitor Leal
2010 “Energy Sustainability Indicators for Local Energy Planning: Review of Current Practices and Derivation of a New Framework.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 141: 2723–2735. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nield, David
2016, November 16. “More Than 6,000 Cities Are Already Crushing Carbon Emission Targets For 2020.” Science Alert, Retrieved from [URL]
Paliewicz, Nicholas
2012 “Global Warming and the Interaction between the Public and Technical Spheres of Argument: When Standards for Expertise Really Matter.” Argumentation and Advocacy 481: 231–242. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paliewicz, Nicholas S., and George, F. (Guy) McHendry, Jr.
2017 “When Good Arguments Do Not Work: Post-Dialectics, Argument Assemblages, and the Networks of Climate Skepticism.” Argumentation and Advocacy 531: 287–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pearce, Warren, Reiner Grundmann, Mike Hulme, Sujatha Raman, Eleanor Hadley Kershaw, and Judith Tsouvalis
2017 “Beyond Counting Climate Consensus.” Environmental Communication 231: 1–8. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pezzullo, Phaedra C.
2007 Toxic Tourism: Rhetorics of Pollution, Travel, and Environmental Justice. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
2016 “Afterword: Decentering & Regenerating the Field.” In Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Methods, eds. by Sara McKinnon, Robert Asen, Karma R. Chávez, and Robert Glenn Howard, 177–188. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 “Unearthing the Marvelous: Environmental Imprints in Rhetorical Criticism.” Review of Communication 161: 25–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pezzullo, Phaedra C., and Robert J. Cox
2017 Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (5th eds.). Thousand Oaks, C: Sage.Google Scholar
2018 Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere (5th eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Pezzullo, Phaedra C., and Catalina M. de Onís
2018 “Rethinking Rhetorical Field Methods on a Precarious Planet.” Communication Monographs 85 (1): 103–122. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sierra Club
n.d.). “Is Your City #readyfor100?” Retrieved from [URL]
Simons, Herbert W.
1970 “Requirements, Problems, and Strategies: A theory of Persuasion for Social Movements.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 561: 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, Linda T.
2012 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Sprain, Leah, and Hughes, Jessica M. F.
2015 “A New Perspective on Stories in Public Deliberation: Analyzing Small Stories in Discussions About Immigration.” Text & Talk 351: 531–551. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stewart, Charles J., Craig Allen Smith, and Robert E. Denton
2012 Persuasion and Social Movements (6th ed.) Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney G.
2011 Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (3rd ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
UN-HABITAT
2012 State of the World’s Cities 2012/2013 – Prosperity of Cities. London: Earthscan. Retrieved from [URL]
Warner, Koko, Kees van der Geest, Sönke Kreft, Saleemul Huq, Sven Harmeling, Koen Kusters, and Alex de Sherbinin
2012 “Evidence From the Frontlines of Climate Change: Loss and Damage to Communities Despite Coping and Adaptation.” Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative. Policy Report. Report No. 9. Bonn: United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).Google Scholar
Weber, Elke U., and Paul C. Stern
2011 “Public Understanding of Climate Change in the United States.” American Psychologist 661: 315–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Whyte, Kyle
2017 “Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene.” English Language Notes 55 (1–2): 153–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
World-Bank
2010 Cities and Climate Change: An Urgent Agenda. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Yalçın, Melike, and Benoit Lefèvre
2012 “Local Climate Action Plans in France: Emergence, Limitations and Conditions for Success.” Environmental Policy and Governance 221: 104–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Young, Iris M.
1996 “Communication and the Other: Beyond Deliberative Democracy.” In Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political, ed. by Seyla Benhabib, 120–136. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
2000 Inclusion and Democracy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Paliewicz, Nicholas S. & George F. (Guy) McHendry, Jr.
2020. Post-dialectics and fascistic argumentation in the global climate change debate. Argumentation and Advocacy 56:3 ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo
Wahlund, Madeleine & Jenny Palm
2022. The role of energy democracy and energy citizenship for participatory energy transitions: A comprehensive review. Energy Research & Social Science 87 ► pp. 102482 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 march 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.