Table 2.

Climate change discourses (Leichenko and O’Brien 2019)

Biophysical	Critical	Dismissive	Integrative
Climate change is an environmental problem caused by GHG emissions from human activities	Climate Change is a social problem caused by economic, political, and cultural processes that contribute to uneven, unsustainable patterns of development and energy use	Climate change is not a problem at all or at least note an urgent concern, and may even been a hoax	Climate change is an environmental and social problem that is rooted in particular beliefs and perceptions of human–environment relationships and humanity’s place in the world
Can be addressed through policies, technologies, and behavioural changes	Can be addressed through challenging economic systems and power structures that perpetuate fossil fuel consumption	Need not be addressed, and instead other issues should be prioritized	Can be addressed through challenging and changing mindsets, norms, rules, institutions, and policies that support unsustainable resource use and practices