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When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics

The metrics used in environmental management are performative. That is, the tools deployed to classify and measure the natural world interact with the things they were designed to observe. The idea of performativity also captures the way these interactions shape or distort the governance activities...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cusworth, George, Brice, Jeremy, Lorimer, Jamie, Garnett, Tara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9893306/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36377598
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/03063127221134275
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author Cusworth, George
Brice, Jeremy
Lorimer, Jamie
Garnett, Tara
author_facet Cusworth, George
Brice, Jeremy
Lorimer, Jamie
Garnett, Tara
author_sort Cusworth, George
collection PubMed
description The metrics used in environmental management are performative. That is, the tools deployed to classify and measure the natural world interact with the things they were designed to observe. The idea of performativity also captures the way these interactions shape or distort the governance activities that metrics are used to inform. The performativity of metrics reveals how mundane practices of measurement and auditing are inscribed with substantial power. This has proven particularly true for the global warming metrics, like GWP100, that are central to the management of anthropogenic climate change. Greenhouse gases are materially heterogenous, and the metrics used to commensurate their various warming impacts influence the distribution of both culpability and capital in climate policy and markets. The publication of a new warming metric, GWP* (or GWP Star), has generated a modest scientific controversy, as a diverse cast of stakeholders recognize this performativity seek to influence the metrological regime under which they live. We analyse this controversy, particularly as it unfolded in the fractious discourse around sustainable food and farming, to develop the concept of reflexive performativity: where actors are anticipatory and strategic in their engagement with the metrics that are used to govern their lives. We situate this idea in relation to, and in tentative evidential support of, the concept of reflexive modernization.
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spelling pubmed-98933062023-02-03 When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics Cusworth, George Brice, Jeremy Lorimer, Jamie Garnett, Tara Soc Stud Sci Articles The metrics used in environmental management are performative. That is, the tools deployed to classify and measure the natural world interact with the things they were designed to observe. The idea of performativity also captures the way these interactions shape or distort the governance activities that metrics are used to inform. The performativity of metrics reveals how mundane practices of measurement and auditing are inscribed with substantial power. This has proven particularly true for the global warming metrics, like GWP100, that are central to the management of anthropogenic climate change. Greenhouse gases are materially heterogenous, and the metrics used to commensurate their various warming impacts influence the distribution of both culpability and capital in climate policy and markets. The publication of a new warming metric, GWP* (or GWP Star), has generated a modest scientific controversy, as a diverse cast of stakeholders recognize this performativity seek to influence the metrological regime under which they live. We analyse this controversy, particularly as it unfolded in the fractious discourse around sustainable food and farming, to develop the concept of reflexive performativity: where actors are anticipatory and strategic in their engagement with the metrics that are used to govern their lives. We situate this idea in relation to, and in tentative evidential support of, the concept of reflexive modernization. SAGE Publications 2022-11-15 2023-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9893306/ /pubmed/36377598 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/03063127221134275 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Articles
Cusworth, George
Brice, Jeremy
Lorimer, Jamie
Garnett, Tara
When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
title When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
title_full When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
title_fullStr When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
title_full_unstemmed When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
title_short When you wish upon a (GWP) star: Environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
title_sort when you wish upon a (gwp) star: environmental governance and the reflexive performativity of global warming metrics
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9893306/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36377598
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/03063127221134275
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