Displacements of Care in Climate Crisis: The Case of Tipping Points

In this paper, the relationship of care and crisis is discussed with respect to tipping points and strategic mobilizations of the concept by climate communicators including scientists, policymakers, and activists. The displacement of care in our conceptions of crisis is evident during key moments of intermediation for the tipping point concept, a series of historical developments usually bracketed off in stories about the onset of climate change as a public concern. These moments include the use of broken windows and bystander invention theories to popularize the tipping point concept. These displacements have been generalized across a range of sites including academic research into bystander inaction during emergencies, the network design of online spaces, and climate communication strategies. By bringing recent work by Chun and Rentschler together with Pezzullo's provocation to expand considerations of care in the field, I encourage historically-informed engagements with care-based traditions, knowledges, and practices currently displaced in climate communication.