Abstract Climate anxiety and climate distress are receiving growing attention as psychological conditions that deserve individual interventions, but potential social and structural drivers of these conditions warrant further study. Is there a relationship between climate anxiety and climate doom, and social media use? If so, what are the collective social and political implications of this? These questions matter for developing effective interventions in climate anxiety and climate doom on the individual, psychological level as well as the broader social level. If climate doom is related to support for authoritarian policies or extremist action, this presents an understudied risk for how we communicate about climate. We explore these questions in a survey of US adults ( N = 1,400) and find that social media use correlates with increased climate distress and climate doom. We find that climate doom, but not climate distress, is associated with support for radical actions such as sabotage, threatening CEOs, and hacking fossil fuel cyberinfrastructure. Together, these results suggest a need for further research into both the role of social media in climate anxiety interventions and the broader social and political implications of climate doom.

Abstract Frictions arise when technocratic approaches to the climate crisis are sought implemented in local places in the Global North and South. This article unpacks the context-specific tensions that unfold when climate smart agriculture (CSA) and its underpinning logic of calculable metrics is promoted by key agricultural actors following national policies of carbon neutrality in Norway and Costa Rica. More specifically, the article focuses on the divergence between CSA and farmers who seek to regenerate soils by practicing alternative approaches that draw on agroecology. Ethnographic fieldwork among farmers of different productions and sites in Norway and Costa Rica reveals that the alternative approaches emerging in some regions do not conform to CSA metrics despite farmers’ exposure to CSA. By implication CSA risks rendering illegitimate alternative approaches that have potential to restore soils and ecosystems and empower farmers economically, socially and epistemologically. The article calls for policy makers to move with urgent patience in their aspiration to mitigate contemporary climate and environmental crises.

Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, heavy rainfall and droughts, have become more frequent and intense in Brazil. According to climate change scenarios, this trend, which has a negative impact on people’s health and living conditions, will continue. Here, we analysed indicators for extreme weather events resulting from climate change, projected for the 21st century, alongside socio-demographic indicators for Brazilian municipalities, in an attempt to identify populations exposed to the risks of the climate crisis. We calculated the values of indicators for extreme air temperature and precipitation events, based on NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 data, for a reference period and for the future, as well as socio-demographic indicators based on recent census data. Using Spearman’s coefficient, we then calculated anomaly indicators for the future time intervals and analysed correlations with the socio-demographic indicators. Our results indicate a reduction in cold days and an increase in hot days and heat waves in both scenarios (SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5), with the most changes occurring in the highest emission scenario. The extreme precipitation indicators suggest both an increase and a reduction in intense precipitation and droughts in a number of the country’s regions. The projected changes are more intense in the highest emission scenario, and in the North and Northeast regions. We noted a trend for greatest occurrence of extreme events in locations with a higher proportion of Black, Parda/Brown, Indigenous and Quilombola populations, and the socially vulnerable. We recommend that policies to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change focus on reducing inequalities and promoting climate justice.

Abstract The science-diplomacy interface between the IPCC and the UNFCCC is sometimes presented as a model of mutual understanding and learning. In practice, however, the relationship between the two institutions is more complex and controversial. This article analyses both collaboration and contestation about what constitutes policy-relevant and useable scientific knowledge using the concept of the ‘trading zone’ from Science and Technology Studies (STS). Based on ethnographic work carried out between 2021 and 2023, the paper explores the various ways in which the main findings of the IPCC are made relevant to the UNFCCC, before examining how these findings are debated within international climate negotiations. It highlights the significant efforts required to align IPCC assessments with the needs of the UNFCCC and emphasises the fragile nature of the exchanges between the two organisations.