Karen O’brien
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 3600073 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Karen O’brien |
| PRENOMES | Karen |
| SOBRENOME | O’brien |
| ASSINATURA | O’BRIEN K |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2448-0665 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 68 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 1501 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 68 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1978 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 17 |
Corporations and financial institutions driving coastal conflicts involving Indigenous Peoples
Socio-environmental conflicts associated with large-scale economic projects in Indigenous territories are well documented, but conflicts in coastal areas remain largely unexplored, despite the crucial differences between inland and coastal ecosystems. While the empirical literature about socio-environmental conflicts in Indigenous territories in coastal areas is growing, the role of financial institutions and corporations in these conflicts is of…
Actions and actors driving transformative change for global sustainability
The human right to a safe climate
Transforming the economic landscape for global sustainability
The economic system’s interdependent relationship with nature is fraught with contradictions. While over half of global GDP moderately or highly depends on nature and subsidies to sectors driving nature’s decline, e.g., agriculture, fossil fuels, forestry, amount to trillions of dollars annually, funding for biodiversity conservation and restoration remains woefully inadequate. Bridging the biodiversity funding gap is crucial but alone does not e…
Governance for Earth system tipping points – A research agenda
Tipping points in the Earth system could be passed within the Paris Agreement's temperature goal range (1.5°C–2°C). Tipping processes are a feature of complex Earth system dynamics that present major governance challenges not addressed by existing global governance institutions. The common governance toolkit is a poor match for dealing with tipping processes, especially non-linear change, and radical intertemporality. To support the development o…
People as solutions to sustainability
The Role of Actionless Action in Generating Quantum Social Change
This article considers an alternative paradigm for responding to the climate emergency. Drawing on Fierke’s ideas on quantum complementarity and wuwei , or actionless action, it considers what quantum social science and Eastern philosophies can offer to a fragmenting, polarized world where responses to climate change appear to be limited and ineffective. The wisdom of actionless action involves engaging differently with difference, emphasizing a …
Fractal approaches to scaling transformations to sustainability
Responses to sustainability challenges are not delivering results at the scale and speed called for by science, international agreements, and concerned citizens. Yet there is a tendency to underestimate the large-scale impacts of small-scale, local, and contextualized actions, and particularly the role of individuals in scaling transformations. Here, we explore a fractal approach to scaling sustainability transformations based on “universal value…
Beyond “blah blah blah”
Risk-Factor Based Lead Screening and Correlation with Blood Lead Levels in Pregnancy
Teaching the “how” of transformation
Getting to the heart of transformation
Climate change, biodiversity loss, the COVID-19 pandemic, and growing inequity and poverty are some of the key global challenges facing us today. These multiple and interacting crises have elicited growing appeals to the need for transformation. Yet while the scholarly literature on transformations is expanding rapidly, the concept risks becoming an empty buzzword or an alibi for superficial interventions and business-as-usual responses within re…
Reflecting on the Anthropocene
Research on global environmental change has transformed the way that we think about human-environment relationships and Earth system processes. The four Ambio articles highlighted in this 50th Anniversary Issue have influenced the cultural narrative on environmental change, highlighting concepts such as “resilience,” “coupled human and natural systems”, and the “Anthropocene.” In this peer response, I argue that global change research is still pa…
Transforming Sustainability Science to Generate Positive Social and Environmental Change Globally
Teaching climate change in the Anthropocene
Art for Change
Young people represent a powerful force for social change, and they have an important role to play in climate change responses. However, empowering young people to be “systems changers” is not straightforward. It is particularly challenging within educational systems that prioritize instrumental learning over critical thinking and creative actions. History has shown that by creating novel spaces for reflexivity and experimentation, the arts have …
Toward an integrative discourse on climate change
Harriet Bulkeley’s article raises some of the persistent challenges of integrating social science perspectives into climate change research. In this commentary, we consider a broader and deeper approach to integration that introduces multiple entry points for engaging with climate change research, education, and training. We argue that an integrative discourse is already emerging and discuss the potential role and implications for human geography
Transformation in a changing climate
The concept of transformation in relation to climate and other global change is increasingly receiving attention. The concept provides important opportunities to help examine how rapid and fundamental change to address contemporary global challenges can be facilitated. This paper contributes to discussions about transformation by providing a social science, arts and humanities perspective to open up discussion and set out a research agenda about …
Is the 1.5°C target possible? Exploring the three spheres of transformation
Carbon roadmaps and pathways are important for describing, planning and tracking the technical, managerial and behavioral changes that are consistent with the Paris Agreement. Nevertheless, roadmaps and pathways for decarbonization often gloss over a fundamental question: ‘How do deliberate social transformations happen?’ Often the social complexity of transformation processes is downplayed or ignored in favor of technical solutions and behaviora…
Exploring youth activism on climate change
O'Brien, K., E. Selboe, and B. M. Hayward. 2018. Exploring youth activism on climate change: dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecology and Society 23(3):42. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10287-230342
Climate Change Adaptation and Social Transformation
The consequences of climate change have been observed throughout the world, with differential impacts within and across societies. There has been a surge of attention in recent years to adaptation research, policy, and practices as a means of reducing the risks of climate change. Although adaptation is increasingly considered a necessary part of planning and development processes, there is growing recognition that there is also a need for social …
Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research
The most critical question for climate research is no longer about the problem, but about how to facilitate the transformative changes necessary to avoid catastrophic climate-induced change. Addressing this question, however, will require massive upscaling of research that can rapidly enhance learning about transformations. Ten essentials for guiding action-oriented transformation and energy research are therefore presented, framed in relation to…
Social Cohesion and Resilience in First Australian Family and Kinship Networks
This article addresses the means by which First Australian family and kinship systems and cultural beliefs bring about social unity in their communities. It offers an exploration of the possible ways in which transnational advocates, researchers and policy-makers might better understand, identify and develop the positive aspects of family and kinship networks. In two short but representative case studies of resistance against enforced annexure of…
Climate change and social transformations
Climate change is recognized as an urgent societal problem with widespread implications for both natural and human systems, and transforming society at the rate and scale that is mandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement remains a major challenge. Do we need to be open to new paradigms for social change? In this opinion piece, I draw attention to the emerging field of quantum social theory and consider its implications for climate change responses. Qu…
Visualising Activism’ Indigenous Media and Political Imaginaries in Contemporary Bolivia; Collective Situations
How might artistic representation bring about change in the political sphere? What kinds of politically transformative practices are present in communication media? By what means are indigenous wor
Global environmental change II
This progress report considers the need for developing a critical body of research on deliberate transformation as a response to global environmental change. Although there is a rapidly growing literature on adaptation to environmental change, including both incremental and transformational adaptation, this often focuses on accommodating change, rather than contesting it and creating alternatives. Given increasing calls from scientists and activi…
Double exposure
Mapping vulnerability to multiple stressors
Exploring youth activism on climate change
O'Brien, K., E. Selboe, and B. M. Hayward. 2018. Exploring youth activism on climate change: dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecology and Society 23(3):42. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10287-230342
Plausible and desirable futures in the Anthropocene
While the concept of the Anthropocene reflects the past and present nature, scale and magnitude of human impacts on the Earth System, its true significance lies in how it can be used to guide attitudes, choices, policies and actions that influence the future. Yet, to date much of the research on the Anthropocene has focused on interpreting past and present changes, while saying little about the future. Likewise, many futures studies have been ins…
Re-conceptualizing the Anthropocene
Since it was first proposed in 2000, the concept of the Anthropocene has evolved in breadth and diversely. The concept encapsulates the new and unprecedented planetary-scale changes resulting from societal transformations and has brought to the fore the social drivers of global change. The concept has revealed tensions between generalized interpretations of humanity's contribution to global change, and interpretations that are historically, polit…
Why equity is fundamental in climate change policy research
Is the 1.5°C target possible? Exploring the three spheres of transformation
Carbon roadmaps and pathways are important for describing, planning and tracking the technical, managerial and behavioral changes that are consistent with the Paris Agreement. Nevertheless, roadmaps and pathways for decarbonization often gloss over a fundamental question: ‘How do deliberate social transformations happen?’ Often the social complexity of transformation processes is downplayed or ignored in favor of technical solutions and behaviora…
Global environmental change III
There are increasing calls from the global environmental change research community for new strategies for translating knowledge into action. Such calls are not new, yet they are often based on the assumption that more solutions-oriented knowledge about environmental problems will lead to desired outcomes. In this progress report, I argue that it is time to shift attention to the issue of change itself, and to question some of the assumptions that…
Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research
The most critical question for climate research is no longer about the problem, but about how to facilitate the transformative changes necessary to avoid catastrophic climate-induced change. Addressing this question, however, will require massive upscaling of research that can rapidly enhance learning about transformations. Ten essentials for guiding action-oriented transformation and energy research are therefore presented, framed in relation to…
A values‐based approach to vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
Values play a significant role in climate change debates. To date, however, the use of the term values has been narrowly focused on monetary worth, relative worth, or fair return on exchanges. This article argues that another, broader interpretation of values, one concentrating on intrinsically desirable principles or qualities is needed to understand and respond to climate change. How to respond to climate change impacts depends importantly on w…
Resilience implications of policy responses to climate change
This article examines whether some response strategies to climate variability and change have the potential to undermine long‐term resilience of social–ecological systems. We define the parameters of a resilience approach, suggesting that resilience is characterized by the ability to absorb perturbations without changing overall system function, the ability to adapt within the resources of the system itself, and the ability to learn, innovate, an…
Climate change and social transformations
Climate change is recognized as an urgent societal problem with widespread implications for both natural and human systems, and transforming society at the rate and scale that is mandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement remains a major challenge. Do we need to be open to new paradigms for social change? In this opinion piece, I draw attention to the emerging field of quantum social theory and consider its implications for climate change responses. Qu…
Responding to environmental change
This progress report discusses the role that human geography can potentially play in a paradigm shift in global environmental change research. As the global discourse shifts from understanding and explaining environmental problems to addressing them quickly and effectively, there is a need to integrate insights from the social sciences and humanities into a new science of global change — a science that recognizes subjectivity and emphasizes the n…
Winners and Losers in the Context of Global Change
The idea that global change produces winners and losers is widely accepted. Yet there have been few systematic discussions of what is meant by “winner” or “loser,” and little attention has been given to the theoretical underpinnings behind identification of winners and losers. This is particularly true within global-change literature, where the phrase “winners and losers” is widely and rather loosely used. In this article, we explore the concept …
Teaching climate change in the Anthropocene
Vulnerability interventions in the context of multiple stressors
You say you want a revolution? Transforming education and capacity building in response to global change
Climate change adaptation strategies and disaster risk reduction in cities
Are we missing the point? Global environmental change as an issue of human security
Rethinking Social Contracts
Social contracts play an important role in defining the reciprocal rights, obligations, and responsibilities between states and citizens. Climate change is creating new challenges for both states and citizens, inevitably forcing a rethinking of existing and evolving social contracts. In particular, the social arrangements that enhance the well-being and security of both present and future generations are likely to undergo dramatic transformations…
Questioning Complacency
Most European assessments of climate change impacts have been carried out on sectors and ecosystems, providing a narrow understanding of what climate change really means for society. Furthermore, the main focus has been on technological adaptations, with less attention paid to the process of climate change adaptation. In this article, we present and analyze findings from recent studies on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation in N…
Fractal approaches to scaling transformations to sustainability
Responses to sustainability challenges are not delivering results at the scale and speed called for by science, international agreements, and concerned citizens. Yet there is a tendency to underestimate the large-scale impacts of small-scale, local, and contextualized actions, and particularly the role of individuals in scaling transformations. Here, we explore a fractal approach to scaling sustainability transformations based on “universal value…
Getting to the heart of transformation
Climate change, biodiversity loss, the COVID-19 pandemic, and growing inequity and poverty are some of the key global challenges facing us today. These multiple and interacting crises have elicited growing appeals to the need for transformation. Yet while the scholarly literature on transformations is expanding rapidly, the concept risks becoming an empty buzzword or an alibi for superficial interventions and business-as-usual responses within re…
Predictors of White Adoptive Parents’ Cultural and Racial Socialization Behaviors With Their Asian Adopted Children
This study investigated the role of White racial identity statuses, cultural and racial socialization beliefs, cultural socialization self-efficacy, and racial socialization self-efficacy in predicting White adoptive parents’ (N = 200) cultural and racial socialization behaviors with their Asian adopted children. Only cultural and racial socialization beliefs contributed to the prediction of socialization practices. In addition, we examined wheth…
Expletives and woman's place
Global warming and climate change in Mexico
Conference on biodiversity and landscapes
Uncertainty, Climate Change, and Adaptive Management
Peterson, G., G. A. De Leo, J. J. Hellmann, M. A. Janssen, A. Kinzig, J. R. Malcolm, K. L. O'Brien, S. E. Pope, D. S. Rothman, E. Shevliakova and R. R.T. Tinch 1997. Uncertainty, Climate Change, and Adaptive Management. Conservation Ecology 1(2):4. https://doi.org/10.5751/CE-00024-010204
‘Still at Home’
Sacrificing the Forest
Double exposure
The Dynamics of Rural Vulnerability to Global Change
Winners and Losers in the Context of Global Change
The idea that global change produces winners and losers is widely accepted. Yet there have been few systematic discussions of what is meant by “winner” or “loser,” and little attention has been given to the theoretical underpinnings behind identification of winners and losers. This is particularly true within global-change literature, where the phrase “winners and losers” is widely and rather loosely used. In this article, we explore the concept …
Mapping vulnerability to multiple stressors
Are we missing the point? Global environmental change as an issue of human security
Questioning Complacency
Most European assessments of climate change impacts have been carried out on sectors and ecosystems, providing a narrow understanding of what climate change really means for society. Furthermore, the main focus has been on technological adaptations, with less attention paid to the process of climate change adaptation. In this article, we present and analyze findings from recent studies on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation in N…
Portfolio screening to support the mainstreaming of adaptation to climate change into development assistance
Vulnerability, poverty and the need for sustainable adaptation measures
The need to address both poverty and vulnerability to climate change can be considered two of the major challenges facing human society in the 21st century. While the two concepts are closely interconnected, they are nonetheless distinct. A conceptual understanding of the relationship between vulnerability and poverty is presented, and the types of responses that can address both of these challenges are identified. An empirical example from Kenya…
Why different interpretations of vulnerability matter in climate change discourses
In this article, we discuss how two interpretations of vulnerability in the climate change literature are manifestations of different discourses and framings of the climate change problem. The two differing interpretations, conceptualized here as ‘outcome vulnerability’ and ‘contextual vulnerability’, are linked respectively to a scientific framing and a human-security framing. Each framing prioritizes the production of different types of knowled…
Global Environmental Change and Human Security
Environmental Change and Globalization
This book explores the connections between two of the most transformative processes of the 21st century, namely global environmental change and globalization. It presents a conceptual framework for analyzing the interactions between these two processes, and illustrates, through case studies, how these interactions create situations of “double exposure.” Drawing upon case studies largely related to climate change, the book shows how prominent rece…
Vulnerability interventions in the context of multiple stressors
Academic Language, Power and the Impact of Western Knowledge Production on Indigenous Student Learning
This paper explores the prescriptive, distancing and separating qualities that exist in Western systems of knowledge production. It examines scientific language and how discrimination takes place in the university setting and explores the ways in which academic knowledge production affects the learning experiences, participation and completion rates of Indigenous students. It suggests improving teaching and learning strategies to enhance unacknow…
Rethinking Social Contracts
Social contracts play an important role in defining the reciprocal rights, obligations, and responsibilities between states and citizens. Climate change is creating new challenges for both states and citizens, inevitably forcing a rethinking of existing and evolving social contracts. In particular, the social arrangements that enhance the well-being and security of both present and future generations are likely to undergo dramatic transformations…
Climate Change, Ethics and Human Security
Presenting human security perspectives on climate change, this volume raises issues of equity, ethics and environmental justice, as well as our capacity to respond to what is increasingly considered to be the greatest societal challenge for humankind. Written by international experts, it argues that climate change must be viewed as an issue of human security, and not an environmental problem that can be managed in isolation from larger questions …
A values‐based approach to vulnerability and adaptation to climate change
Values play a significant role in climate change debates. To date, however, the use of the term values has been narrowly focused on monetary worth, relative worth, or fair return on exchanges. This article argues that another, broader interpretation of values, one concentrating on intrinsically desirable principles or qualities is needed to understand and respond to climate change. How to respond to climate change impacts depends importantly on w…
Responding to environmental change
This progress report discusses the role that human geography can potentially play in a paradigm shift in global environmental change research. As the global discourse shifts from understanding and explaining environmental problems to addressing them quickly and effectively, there is a need to integrate insights from the social sciences and humanities into a new science of global change — a science that recognizes subjectivity and emphasizes the n…
Climate Change and the Global Financial Crisis
Despite widespread and growing public recognition of the linkages between environmental change and economic activities, geographic research efforts to date have paid only limited attention to the connections and interactions between climate change and globalization. As a consequence, critical linkages, feedbacks, and synergies between these two processes often go unnoticed. In this article, we draw on the framework of double exposure to motivate …
When not every response to climate change is a good one
Climate adaptation has become a pressing issue. Yet little attention has been paid to the consequences of adaptation policies and practices for sustainability. Recognition that not every adaptation to climate change is a good one has drawn attention to the need for sustainable adaptation strategies and measures that contribute to social justice and environmental integrity. This article presents four normative principles to guide responses to clim…
Climate change (36 obras) · Political science (35 obras) · Ecology (32 obras) · Sociology (30 obras) · Geography (25 obras) · Environmental resource management (23 obras) · Psychology (23 obras) · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance (22 obras) · Computer Science (20 obras) · Business (18 obras)