ABSTRACT
In his 2009 book, Terror from the Air, the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk observes, ‘In periods of poor weather, the more demanding climate critics fly in copious numbers to regions in which they can expect an acceptable performance with sufficient probability — which is why between Christmas Eve and Epiphany, Mauritius and Morocco are awash with weather dissidents from Germany and France’ (Sloterdijk 2009: 86). He uses the term ‘weather dissidents’ as a figure of speech to suggest the once-upon-a-time when nature really did rule. Our modern sun-seekers need not proclaim heresies or write samizdat literature to express dissent against the natural order of things; they simply take to the skies. Other options are available: we create artificial environments that dissent from the local weather conditions — Paris and Venice in Vegas; the Alps in Dubai; the great outdoors in the gym, heat in winter, cool in summer. Abroad and at home we anticipate a constant climate that is not local but global in specification: hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, offices, entertainment centres, cars and coaches are all air-conditioned these days. One might argue that it is our dissent from the weather that sets the agenda for mainstream environmental politics: we want to ski in snowsuits in the desert but we don't want climate change.
