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The Role of Translation in Enacting Multiscalar Climate Action : Insights from European Christian Faith-Based Actors

van Veelen, Bregje LU orcid and Hague, Alice (2024) In Global Environmental Politics 24(2). p.46-68
Abstract

The complex nature of climate change requires action at different scales and in different ways, but questions remain around how to produce climate action that is both multi-scalar and joined up. Here we explore this question by adopting a relational approach to studying climate action by faith-based actors, who increasingly play an active role campaigning on climate action. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork with representatives of Christian churches in Sweden, Belgium, Scotland, and England, we identify two interrelated processes that explain how climate action “travels”: first, through horizontal circulation (between faith-based and non-faith-based spheres), and second, through vertical circulation (across individual, local, national,... (More)

The complex nature of climate change requires action at different scales and in different ways, but questions remain around how to produce climate action that is both multi-scalar and joined up. Here we explore this question by adopting a relational approach to studying climate action by faith-based actors, who increasingly play an active role campaigning on climate action. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork with representatives of Christian churches in Sweden, Belgium, Scotland, and England, we identify two interrelated processes that explain how climate action “travels”: first, through horizontal circulation (between faith-based and non-faith-based spheres), and second, through vertical circulation (across individual, local, national, and international levels). However, such processes are not without friction. We demonstrate how processes of “translation” can ensure the integration of climate action into new contexts and result in producing new scalar relations but also exclusions. In doing so, we advance understandings of how multiscalar climate action is produced by nonstate actors.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
climate action, governance Multiscalar action, networked, nonstate actors, religion
in
Global Environmental Politics
volume
24
issue
2
pages
23 pages
publisher
MIT Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85195795542
ISSN
1526-3800
DOI
10.1162/glep_a_00740
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
id
4a0f8057-3637-4cd7-bf2d-c283d9028bdc
date added to LUP
2024-06-24 17:48:18
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:36:13
@article{4a0f8057-3637-4cd7-bf2d-c283d9028bdc,
  abstract     = {{<p>The complex nature of climate change requires action at different scales and in different ways, but questions remain around how to produce climate action that is both multi-scalar and joined up. Here we explore this question by adopting a relational approach to studying climate action by faith-based actors, who increasingly play an active role campaigning on climate action. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork with representatives of Christian churches in Sweden, Belgium, Scotland, and England, we identify two interrelated processes that explain how climate action “travels”: first, through horizontal circulation (between faith-based and non-faith-based spheres), and second, through vertical circulation (across individual, local, national, and international levels). However, such processes are not without friction. We demonstrate how processes of “translation” can ensure the integration of climate action into new contexts and result in producing new scalar relations but also exclusions. In doing so, we advance understandings of how multiscalar climate action is produced by nonstate actors.</p>}},
  author       = {{van Veelen, Bregje and Hague, Alice}},
  issn         = {{1526-3800}},
  keywords     = {{climate action; governance Multiscalar action; networked; nonstate actors; religion}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{46--68}},
  publisher    = {{MIT Press}},
  series       = {{Global Environmental Politics}},
  title        = {{The Role of Translation in Enacting Multiscalar Climate Action : Insights from European Christian Faith-Based Actors}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00740}},
  doi          = {{10.1162/glep_a_00740}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}