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From barometers to the famous BBC shipping forecast, we have - over the centuries - developed the means to predict, harness, and shield ourselves from what is happening in the atmosphere. Attitudes about the planet's weather, as well as about human identity, have thereby taken on new meanings. In an era of climatic anxiety, what weather is and how weather behaves have taken on additional currency. Benjamin Hale weaves together philosophy and anecdote into a many-faceted exploration of this powerful force that shapes who we are and how we think about our place in the world. He argues that in our drive to 'scientize' weather, with all the technological advances in managing, anticipating, and understanding it, we also risk distancing ourselves from weather and losing a complete sense of what it is. This entertaining book reminds us that the weather is and always will be in some sense outside our control, and that consequently we are and forever will be learning to live alongside it.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail: what is weather?; 2. Of rain and parades: how weather affects us; 3. Battening the hatches: living with weather; 4. Seeing through the fog: predicting the weather; 5. Catching a cloud: controlling the weather; Conclusion: silver linings; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Benjamin Hale is Professor in the Departments of Environmental Studies and Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is author of The Wild and the Wicked: On Nature and Human Nature (2016), co-editor of the journal Ethics, Policy and Environment, and former President of the International Society for Environmental Ethics.
