Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Max Boykoff

Professor and Director of Environmental Studies

Headshot of Max Boykoff
Education
  • Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, 2006
Office Location
SEEC - S106F
Phone
303-492-0364

Research Interests

Maxwell (Max) Boykoff is the Director of the Environmental Studies Program (where he is a Professor) and is also a Fellow in the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. He also Adjunct faculty in the Geography Department. Previously, he was Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, which was part of CIRES. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California-Santa Cruz and Bachelor of Sciences in Psychology from The Ohio State University.

Max has ongoing interests in cultural politics and environmental governance, decarbonization, science and environmental communications, science-policy interactions, political economy and the environment, and climate adaptation He has experience working in North America, Central America, Africa, South Asia, Oceania and Europe, and is a co-author and editor of seven books and edited volumes, along with over sixty articles and book chapters. 

Max’s research and creative work has developed primarily in two arenas:

  1. cultural politics of science, climate change and environmental issues = this refers to ways that attitudes, intentions, beliefs and behaviors of individuals and groups shape (and are shaped by) the perceived spectrum of possible action in the context of science-policy, climate change and environmental issues.
  2. transformations of carbon-based economies and societies (with emphasis on the interface of science and practical action) = this refers to decarbonization politics, policies and decision-making, with particular interest in how these activities find meaning in people’s everyday lives, as well as how they, in turn, feed back into science-policy decision-making.

Max integrates these research and creative works with ongoing commitments to mentorship, teaching and service.

Current Courses

Additional Readings

 

Creative (Climate) Communications
by Maxwell T. Boykoff

July 2019

Culture, Politics and Climate Change
Edited by Deserai A. Crow and Maxwell T. Boykoff

March 2014

Successful Adaptation to Climate Change
Edited by Susanne Moser and Maxwell Boykoff

Routledge
May 2013

The New Carbon Economy: Constitution, Governance, and Contestation
Edited by Peter Newell, Maxwell Boykoff, and Emily Boyd

Wiley-Blackwell
January 2012 

Who Speaks for Climate? Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change
by Maxwell Boykoff

Cambridge University Press
September 2011

The Politics of Climate Change: A Survey
Edited by Maxwell Boykoff
November 2009   Contentious Geographies: Environmental Knowledge, Meaning, Scale
Edited by Michael K. Goodman, Maxwell T. Boykoff, and Kyle T. Evered
May 2008

 

Current Research

My research and creative work center on two themes. One is the ‘cultural politics of science, policy, and the environment,’ which refers to how the attitudes, intentions, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals and groups shape (and are shaped by) the perceived spectrum of possible action in the context of environmental challenges such as climate change. A second is the transformations of carbon-based economies and societies, with a particular emphasis on the interface of science, sustainability, and practical action, including policies. Through many connected projects and collaborations, my research commitments involve questions of how climate science and policy find meaning in people’s everyday lives, as well as how this, in turn, feeds back into science- policy decision-making. Together, my work has sought to critically analyze the role of various actors and organizations shaping political and cultural dimensions of environmental science and policy discussions in the public arena.    For example:
  • Through the Media and Climate Change Observatory, colleagues and I monitor media coverage of climate change at various scales, updated monthly. We have established and maintain appraisals of 82 sources across 40 countries around the world and monitor country-level coverage in Australia, Canada, Germany, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition, through collaborations with Rogelio Fernandez-Reyes in Spain, and Midori Aoyagi-Usui and Shoko Yamaguchi in Japan, we maintain country-level counts there as well. As offshoots from this work, we work with many partners (e.g., Lancet Countdown on climate change and health issues) and we have produced a number of related reports and journal articles.
  • With colleagues Beth Osnes (Theater Department) and Rebecca Safran (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department) we run a multi-faceted project called ‘Inside the Greenhouse’. This project works to deepen our understanding of how issues associated with climate change are/can be communicated, by creating artifacts through interactive theatre, film, fine art, performance art, television programming, and appraising as well as extracting effective methods for multimodal climate communication. We also seek to build competence and confidence in the students with whom we work. The project effectively fosters a deliberative space for CU Boulder students to experiment with creative climate communications and build capacity for more systematic, capable and effective environmental communication strategies. As part of this project we teach numerous courses and produce seasonal events and various research outputs.

Projects

  ICECaps: International Collective on Environment, Culture & Politics Founded in 2012 at the University of Colorado Boulder, the International Collective on Environment, Culture and Politics is a research group that examines some of today’s most pressing environmental issues. ICE CaPs members and affiliates cross disciplines to apply a wide range of theories and perspectives to study issues at the human-environment interface. We work across scales from the individual to the global. Read more ...   Inside the Greenhouse Max Boykoff and Beth Osnes of the Theater Department at University of Colorado Boulder are working to deepen our understanding of how issues associated with climate change are/can be communicated, by creating artifacts through interactive theatre, film, fine art, performance art, television programming, and appraising as well as extracting effective methods for multimodal climate communication. Read more ...   Media Coverage of Climate Change/Global Warming Monthly updated figure tracking newspaper coverage of climate change or global warming in 50 newspapers across 20 countries and 6 continents. Max Boykoff (University of Colorado) and Maria Mansfield (University of Exeter) continue to track newspaper coverage of climate change or global warming in 50 newspapers across 20 countries and 6 continents. They update this figure on a monthly basis as a resource for journalists, researchers, and others who may be interested in tracking these trends. Max Boykoff also has a book coming out with Cambridge University Press in September 2011 titled Who Speaks for Climate? Making Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change. Read more ...   Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship Program This program seeks to improve climate change communication and adaptation decision-making in response to climate variability and change within the humanitarian sector. It connects humanitarian practitioners from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre [RC/RC CC] an affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [IFRC] with science-policy graduate student researchers at the University of Colorado. Read more ...  

A Note for Prospective Graduate Students

Professor Boykoff is not taking new students in the incoming Fall 2022 class.

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About CECA

CECA connects and creates a supportive environment for graduate students and postdocs who come from various academic units to do research in CIRES.