Not my Climate Change: Risk, Expert Systems and Ownership of the Climate Change Issue in a Rural Community in Norway

Abstract

The global climate change issue is generally met with an expectation that it can only be solved through global solutions. Within this global framework, the various local and cultural experiences of climate change may be overlooked, and with it, local voices for climate change solutions are excluded. This thesis asks why climate change is not a subject of political talk in the public sphere of a rural community. Based on qualitative interviews with individuals and focus groups in Dovre, Norway, during the summer of 2017 it was found that people in this rural community lacks ownership to the climate change issue and therefore do not see it as relevant as a subject for political talk in their everyday lives. A lack of ownership is argued to come first, as a result of a low perception of risk of climate change to their lives compared to other more pressing issues, and a view that this issue “belongs” to other groups. Second, the matter of climate change is perceived as exclusive to expert systems. This leads the informants to conclude that climate change is not their concern.