Last week, France Culture devoted a week-long radio programme on the history of climate. It addresses the question of how climate change issues have been perceived through time, from classical times to 2015. Climate, say the interviewed experts, has never been an immediate issue. In the contrary, it has long been inscribed in humanity’s “collective unconscious” and has been linked to myths, superstitions, scepticisms. The recent awakening of climate-change awareness has been a result of the recent advances of both science and history: understanding the past pace of climate evolution is a prerequisite to understand how fast it is changing today.

The programme is made of five episodes, the three first ones focusing on history and science, the two last ones on politics and recent climate change negotiations. Invited experts, among which Bruno Latour, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie or former Minister Brice Lalonde include historians, geographers, philosophers, climatologists and politicians.

We highly recommend this enlightening podcast, which can be found (in French only) at the following address: http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-grande-traversee-l-invention-du-climat