Climate change is upon us. While debates continue over how to mitigate emissions, it is evident that many parts of the world will need to adapt to an increasingly unstable climate. However, the persistence of climate denial presents a significant barrier to climate change response; if a future in which the climate has dramatically changed cannot be imagined, there is little motivation to act. Using qualitative interview data, our research investigates community responses to climate change adaptation planning in a coastal region of Australia identified as highly vulnerable to future sea level rise. While the local council engaged in extensive consultation to develop an adaptation plan, community opposition to proposed development changes ultimately resulted in a ‘wait and see’ response. We show how the community’s local understandings of place informed temporalities that led to a practice of climate denial. We outline three processes by which climate denial is socially organised: anchoring the past via historical reference; projecting continuity through a nostalgic lens of managing disaster; and enclosing the present by prioritising existing economic value. We show how these processes result in the social organisation of climate denial, and an inability to plan for a climate changed future.

气候变化正在临到我们。尽管有关如何减少排放的辩论仍在继续，但很明显，世界许多地区将需要适应日益不稳定的气候。但是，气候否认的持续存在对应对气候变化构成了重大障碍。如果无法想象气候发生巨大变化的未来，那就没有采取行动的动力了。利用定性访谈数据，我们的研究调查了社区对澳大利亚沿海地区气候变化适应计划的反应，该地区被确定为极易受到未来海平面上升的影响。在地方议会进行广泛协商以制定适应计划的过程中，社区对拟议的发展变化的反对最终导致了“观望”反应。我们展示了社区对地方的本地了解如何导致临时性，从而导致了气候否认行为。我们概述了社会否定气候否认活动的三个过程：通过历史参考确定过去；通过对灾难进行管理的怀旧镜头来预测连续性；并通过优先考虑现有的经济价值来封闭现在的事物。我们展示了这些过程如何导致拒绝气候的社会组织，以及无法为气候变化的未来做规划。