Dr. Peter Doran:

Yes. I have already alluded to the communicative role the legislation can play, especially if it contains some very clear language in respect of ambition. As part of this, there will be a need to provide an explanation of the massive opportunities and challenges to which this matter gives rise for any country. As part of the conversation on the economic and financial transition we are undergoing, we need to take cognisance of the ecological aspect. It is becoming clear in popular and academic discussions of the ecological problématique that climate change is but one of the issues involved. Climate change is perhaps a vanguard issue, but there are other issues and tipping points which we are going to be obliged to address.

It is clear that we are between stories. The latter are not just stories about the ending or the twilight of a certain industrial or technological model. We are between stories right across the board in the context of the challenge to our lifestyles and self-understanding and we must begin to explain the issue of climate change in that context. People refer to a new age called the Anthropocene in which human agency is the key determinant of geological change. This captures the imagination and is not necessarily a story of threat and sacrifice. It is also a transition to a story that invites us to look long and hard at the meaning of our existence and the limits of the values relating to consumerism. It is also a deeply moral and ethical story, not only as a result of our responsibility to adopt new lifestyles at home but also to meet our ethical obligation to those who, as a result of the problem of climate change, are facing much more immediate crises in terms of food and water security. When this matter is cast in these wider contexts, it grabs the imagination. There is a great deal of material which can be used to engage constituencies. As we have heard, younger people are already alive to the frameworks for presenting these issues.