The Politics of Climate Change at WPSA 2019
By: Fsi Student Programs
Tags: Stanford, Climate Change, Conference, Fsi Students

About the author: Gemma Smith is a Stanford PhD student with the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources and recipient of an FSI Conference Grant, which she used in support of her travel to present her research at the Western Political Science Association’s annual meeting.

With the help of the FSI conference grant, I was able to travel to San Diego to present at the Western Political Science Association’s (WPSA) annual meeting. This was my first experience presenting at an academic conference in my PhD, and so I wanted to experience as much as I possibly could. Best of all, this year’s conference theme was “the politics of climate change” — as an aspiring researcher in environmental politics, I couldn’t have chosen a better fit for my interests. WPSA has a long history of bringing together political scientists on environmental issues, and I knew there would be a host of experts in attendance who I couldn’t wait to meet.

The view from the conference terrace across the Marina in San Diego. Image credit: Politics, Groups and Identities journal, WPSA

While there were far too many panels and presentations to attend everything I wanted to, I gravitated toward several sessions focused on how we can better understand and leverage collaborative and participatory governance models to address climate change and its impacts. At the core of these models is the idea that building trust, empathy, and reciprocity between individuals at various levels of government and among social groups can help to break down barriers to collective action. This enables new solutions to challenges such as climate change, pollution, and natural resource allocation. One of the key themes raised at WPSA included how these types of governance structures access and use scientific information in ways that could be beneficial, harmful, or simply different to traditional “command and control” government models. Another rising theme focused on models for mapping inter- and intra-group networks as collaborative governance forges new connections and new incentives for coalition-building around environmental problems. Facing the threat of climate change, both of these themes stand out as crucial challenges which will impact how we operationalize our improving climate knowledge and mobilize ever wider swathes of society. It was enlightening to engage with the wide range of great work that is happening in this space.

Presenters at the panel session Political Science and Climate Change: The State of the Discipline. Image credit: WPSA

Finally, it was my turn to present! Our panel, The Politics of Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies, featured work from researchers at Stanford, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Texas A&M, and Duke University. It was wonderful to see the diversity of research methods brought to a common set of problems and interests: from network analysis of sea level rise adaptation efforts in the Bay Area, to identifying novel financing methods to support communities at risk from climate change hazards.

Image 3: Panel presentation on the politics of climate change adaptation and mitigation

I capped off my conference experience with a networking event on the terrace of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, overlooking the San Diego waterfront. More than anything, this conference was a wonderful opportunity to find my scholarly community and begin to build the links that will provide years of academic debate, support, and inspiration throughout my PhD and beyond.