ABSTRACT

This book offers an eclectic range of transdisciplinary insights into the role of metaphor, myth and fable in shaping our understanding of the world and how we interact with it and with each other. 

Drawing on innovative perspectives from widely different fields, this book explores how metaphor might facilitate and underpin transformative change towards environmental, ecological and societal sustainability. It illustrates the ways in which contemporary metaphors lock us into patterns of thinking, modes of behaviour, and styles of living that reproduce and accentuate our current socio-environmental problems. It sets itself the task of finding new metaphors and myths that might help move us towards sustainability as societal flourishing. By examining the use of metaphor in diverse fields such as energy use, the food system, health care, arts and the humanities, it invites the reader to reflect on the deep-seated influence of language in general, and metaphor in particular, in shaping how we understand and act upon the world. 

Re-imagining the use of language in framing both the problems we face and the solutions we devise, this novel contribution is a vital source of ideas for those aiming to change how we think and act in pursuit of more sustainable futures.

Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

part I|88 pages

Metaphors of reason

chapter 2|15 pages

Metaphors of technological change

chapter 3|19 pages

Nitrogen, planetary boundaries, and the metabolic rift

Using metaphor for dietary transitions towards a safe operating space

chapter 5|19 pages

Carbon budgets

A metaphor to bridge the science–policy interface on climate change action

part II|50 pages

Myths and metaphors of unreason

chapter 7|14 pages

Myth beyond metaphor

Myths in transition

chapter 8|16 pages

The hare and the tortoise

Metaphorical lessons around sustainability

part III|43 pages

Metaphor, myth, and mind

chapter 10|13 pages

The elusive target

Towards an understanding of the metaphors about dementia and sustainability

part IV|47 pages

Metaphors of creativity and practice

chapter 12|20 pages

Joyce's arches/arcs/arks

Portals as metaphors of transition from the antediluvian Anthropocene

chapter 13|14 pages

Patterns of interference

The ethics of diffraction in Mike McCormack's solar bones

chapter 14|11 pages

The Rain Box

Raining on the radio and other stories