Persuasion, pride, prejudice. Interpretive communities and their winning arguments in a time of climate narratives

This chapter addresses two interpretive communities performing climate narratives. The first one is made up of social movements for climate change, whereas the second one comprises transnational economic actors, according to which global warming must be tackled by preserving the current economically constructed paradigms. These probe a ‘strategic’ use of the law, which is servient to normalising the ecological catastrophe and making consumerism a channel for a greener future. The socio-climatic consequences of our economic systems are thus dismissed with a mix of persuasion, pride, and prejudice. Climate narratives do not automatically exclude loopholes within their texture, which is vulnerable to the assaults of the ecological catastrophe. As interpretive communities, social movements are called upon to stir up both our consciences and legal formalism, teaching us to remain vigilant and keep the door of the law open to a constant conversation with the world and its environmental concerns.