Eva-Maria Holzinger, Nina Kolarzik, Paul Polivka, Merlin Hochmeier, Desalegn Yayeh Ayal, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro, Henri-Count Evans, Inga Grinfelde, José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra, Jasenka Gajdoš Kljusurić, João Carlos Correia Leitão, Chunlan Li, Newton R. Matandirotya, Bethwel Mutai, Gustavo J. Nagy, Thierry Razanakoto, Jame Schaefer, Goran Trbic, Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga, Sane Pashane Zuka, Charles Galdies, Adriana Consorte-McCrea, Francisco Platas, Mittul Vahanvati, Pedi Obani, Safwatun Nida, Lucas Gabriel Zanon, Mayara Régia Sousa de Melo, Alison Glover, Roman Vakulchuk
Climate change is already having tangible biophysical, social, and cultural effects throughout Europe. To address the question of how people experience climate change in their living environments—an aspect that has barely been investigated at the European level to date—the project Climate Walk, presented in this chapter, places people’s concrete experiences at the center of its ethnographic research approach. A rich corpus of data, including notes, audio recordings, films, photographs, participant observations, and both informal and expert interviews, was collected during an almost yearlong walk through 17 European countries. The approach is distinguished by the concept of ethnographic “footwork,” which involves physically interacting with landscapes, allowing researchers to get as close as possible to the experiences of the people inhabiting them. The results indicate that the direct and indirect effects of climate change are already perceived as a concrete and significant concern across Europe. The increasing intensity of extreme weather events was one of the most frequently mentioned issues, observed in all 17 countries. To adequately understand people’s experiences of climate change, a theoretical framework was developed based on the analytical perspective of Social Ecology, highlighting the intricate interactions between biophysical climate change and socially, culturally, and politically changing climates. These theoretical considerations are combined with climate activist perspectives, as the transformative approach of the Climate Walk echoes the call for an intensification of inter- and transdisciplinary research to address the climate crisis. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
Center for Food Security Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa Univesity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; The Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Eswatini, Manzini, Kwaluseni Campus, Matsapha, South Africa; Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava, Latvia; Center for Sustainable Development (Greens), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul), Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; School of Urban and Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Centre, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Kgotso Development Trust, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay; CERED, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar; Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States; University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Land Economy, University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, Blantyre 3, Malawi; Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta, Msida, Malta; Academy for Sustainable Futures, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom; Casa de Cultura de la UAEMéx en Tlalpan, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico; School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom; Science Education Department of Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil; State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil; The Open University, Cardiff, United Kingdom; Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo, Norway; Center for Global Change and Sustainability, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria; Association Europäische Klimawanderung, Vienna, Austria; University of Wuerzburg, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna, Austria
