scholarly journals Assessment of Climate Change Sentiment, Engagement and Adaptation through a Community-Based Outreach Campaign and Questionnaire across the United States

Earth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
Shahir Masri ◽  
Athina Simolaris ◽  
Suellen Hopfer ◽  
Jun Wu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Assess Climate Change

(1) Background: Human activity is warming the planet and destabilizing the climate through greenhouse gas emissions, which underscores the need for climate communication to overcome barriers to action. (2) Methods: We launched a five-month campaign that included questionnaires (n = 500) and one-on-one interviews (n = 24) to assess climate change sentiment, engagement, adaptation, as well as understand who climate outreach reaches and the observations and concerns such groups report across the U.S. so as to better understand the local context of climate change and enable more effective climate communication and outreach in the future. (3) Results: Results showed outreach efforts to mostly reach college educated Caucasians who identified as Democrats. “Future generations” was the most frequently ranked climate concern, with the economy, property value, and national security ranked last. Communities frequently observed hotter temperatures, increased flooding, and species impacts. Among “climate-concerned” individuals, the majority reported never contacting a local politician about climate change. College students least frequently reported climate change as a top priority and reported a low frequency of civic engagement on the issue. In-person interviews highlighted climate impacts disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color, such as heat-related mortality and gentrification. Climate adaptation strategies were underway, but mostly among farmers, ecologists, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) workers. (4) Discussion: This study helps inform elected officials, urban planners, and climate communicators as it relates to the allocation of resources for climate adaptation and education, and highlights key knowledge gaps that deserve focus by future outreach efforts.

scholarly journals Food Security and Climate Change: Differences in Impacts and Adaptation Strategies for Rural Communities in the Global South and North

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhashni Raj ◽  
Sam Roodbar ◽  
Catherine Brinkley ◽  
David Walter Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United States ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global North

This research highlights the mismatch between food security and climate adaptation literature and practice in the Global North and South by focusing on nested case studies in rural India and the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but also has one of the largest wealth gaps. Comparatively, India has one of the largest populations of food insecure people. To demonstrate how adaptive food security approaches to climate change will differ, we first review the unique climate, agricultural, demographic, and socio-economic features; and then compare challenges and solutions to food security posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. While both countries rely on rural, low-income farmworkers to produce food, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how agricultural and food security policies differ in their influence on both food insecurity and global hunger alike. Emphasis on agricultural production in developing regions where a majority of individuals living in rural areas are smallholder subsistence farmers will benefit the majority of the population in terms of both poverty alleviation and food production. In the Global North, an emphasis on food access and availability is necessary because rural food insecure populations are often disconnected from food production.

scholarly journals U.S. Family Forest Owners' Forest Management for Climate Adaptation: Perspectives From Extension and Outreach Specialists

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolena vonHedemann ◽  
Courtney A. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Family Forest Owners ◽  
Forest Owners ◽  
Family Forest ◽  
The Us

In the United States (US), family forest owners, a group that includes individuals, families, trusts, and estates, are the largest single landowner category, owning approximately one-third of the nation's forests. These landowners' individualized decision-making on forest management has a profound impact on US forest cover and function at both local and regional scales. We sought to understand perceptions among family forest specialists of: climate impacts and adaptation options across different forested US regions; how family forest owners are taking climate adaptation into consideration in their forest management, if at all; and major barriers to more active management for adaptation among family forest owners. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 48 forest experts across the US who work with family forest owners, including extension specialists, state forestry agency employees, and consulting foresters who focus on family forest engagement. Our interviewees shared details on how both climate change impacts and forest management for climate adaptation vary across the US, and they perceived a lack of active forest management by family forest owners. They explained that western forest landowners confronting the imminent threat of catastrophic wildfires are more likely to see a need for active forest management. By contrast, in the east, where most forestland is privately owned, interviewees said that landowners see relatively fewer climate impacts on their forests and less need for forest management to respond to climate change. Perceived barriers to more active family forest management for climate adaptation include the lack of more robust markets for a wide range of forest products, a higher capacity forestry workforce, education and assistance in planning forest management, and addressing the issue of increased parcelization of family forest lands. We situate these perceptions in conversations on the role of boundary organizations in climate adaptation, how individual adaptation occurs, and how governing methods frame adaptation possibilities.

The Cultural Theory of Risk for Climate Change Adaptation

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon M. McNeeley ◽  
Heather Lazrus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Cultural Worldviews ◽  
The Way

Abstract The way in which people perceive climate change risk is informed by their social interactions and cultural worldviews comprising fundamental beliefs about society and nature. Therefore, perceptions of climate change risk and vulnerability along with people’s “myths of nature”—that is, how groups of people conceptualize the way nature functions—influence the feasibility and acceptability of climate adaptation planning, policy making, and implementation. This study presents analyses of cultural worldviews that broaden the current treatments of culture and climate change mitigation and adaptation decision making in communities. The authors use insights from community-based climate research and engage the Cultural Theory of Risk conceptual framework to situate community understandings of, and responses to, climate impacts. This study looks at how the issue of climate change manifests socially in four cases in the United States and Tuvalu and how ideas about climate change are produced by the institutional cultural contexts across scales from the local to the global. This approach helps us identify local and regional priorities and support the development of new relationships for adaptation research and planning by helping to diagnose barriers to climate change adaptation, assist improved communication through framing/reframing climate issues based on shared understandings and collective learning, and help move from conflict to cooperation through better negotiation of diverse worldviews.

Understanding the Outcomes of Climate Change Campaigns in the Australian Environmental Movement

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robyn Gulliver ◽  
Kelly S. Fielding ◽  
Winnifred Louis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Environmental Advocacy ◽  
Personal Support ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Collective Response ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Advocacy Network ◽  
Australian Climate

Climate change is a global problem requiring a collective response. Grassroots advocacy has been an important element in propelling this collective response, often through the mechanism of campaigns. However, it is not clear whether the climate change campaigns organized by the environmental advocacy groups are successful in achieving their goals, nor the degree to which other benefits may accrue to groups who run them. To investigate this further, we report a case study of the Australian climate change advocacy sector. Three methods were used to gather data to inform this case study: content analysis of climate change organizations’ websites, analysis of website text relating to campaign outcomes, and interviews with climate change campaigners. Findings demonstrate that climate change advocacy is diverse and achieving substantial successes such as the development of climate change-related legislation and divestment commitments from a range of organizations. The data also highlights additional benefits of campaigning such as gaining access to political power and increasing groups’ financial and volunteer resources. The successful outcomes of campaigns were influenced by the ability of groups to sustain strong personal support networks, use skills and resources available across the wider environmental advocacy network, and form consensus around shared strategic values. Communicating the successes of climate change advocacy could help mobilize collective action to address climate change. As such, this case study of the Australian climate change movement is relevant for both academics focusing on social movements and collective action and advocacy-focused practitioners, philanthropists, and non-governmental organizations.

scholarly journals Public Perceptions of Climate Change in the Peruvian Andes

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2677
Author(s):  
Adrian Brügger ◽  
Robert Tobias ◽  
Fredy S. Monge-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Food Shortages ◽  
Education Levels

How people subjectively perceive climate change strongly influences how they respond to its challenges. To date, relatively little is known about such perceptions in the Global South. This research examines public perceptions of climate change in the Peruvian Andes, a semi-arid high-mountain region that is highly exposed and vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change. Based on questionnaire data collected through face-to-face interviews (N = 1316), we found that respondents identify various climate-related issues as the most important challenges for their country. Many of these issues are related to water. Respondents also noticed more subtle changes and expected them to continue (e.g., extreme temperatures, food shortages). Climate impacts were clearly seen as negative, which was also reflected in the presence of emotions. When compared to previous research, more respondents had personally experienced extreme weather events (80%) and they were more certain that the climate is already changing, is caused by human activity, and is affecting distant and close places similarly. A comparison of the perceptions along different socioeconomic characteristics suggests that more vulnerable groups (e.g., rural, low income and education levels) tended to perceive climate change as more consequential, closer, and as a more natural (vs. anthropogenic) phenomenon than those from less vulnerable groups. The salience of water-related problems and personal experiences of climate-related events, as well as differences between various subgroups, could be used to improve measures to adapt to the consequences of climate change by correcting misconceptions of the population and of decisionmakers.

scholarly journals Early Responses to Climate Change: An Analysis of Seven U.S. State and Local Climate Adaptation Planning Initiatives

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Andrew Poyar ◽  
Nancy Beller-Simms
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Climate Adaptation Planning

Abstract State and local governments in the United States manage a wide array of natural and human resources that are particularly sensitive to climate variability and change. Recent revelations of the extent of the current and potential climate impact in this realm such as with the quality of water, the structure of the coasts, and the potential and witnessed impact on the built infrastructure give these political authorities impetus to minimize their vulnerability and plan for the future. In fact, a growing number of subnational government bodies in the United States have initiated climate adaptation planning efforts; these initiatives emphasize an array of climate impacts, but at different scales, scopes, and levels of sophistication. Meanwhile, the current body of climate adaptation literature has not taken a comprehensive look at these plans nor have they questioned what prompts local adaptation planning, at what scope and scale action is being taken, or what prioritizes certain policy responses over others. This paper presents a case-based analysis of seven urban climate adaptation planning initiatives, drawing from a review of publicly available planning documents and interviews with stakeholders directly involved in the planning process to provide a preliminary understanding of these issues. The paper also offers insight into the state of implementation of adaptation strategies, highlighting the role of low upfront costs and cobenefits with issues already on the local agenda in prompting anticipatory adaptation.

Democratization, Nationalism and Regional Security in the Southern Caucasus

1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Neil MacFarlane
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Independent States

FOR SOME YEARS NOW, WESTERN ACADEMICS AND POLICY-MAKERS HAVE embraced the cause of democratic reform in Central and Eastern Europe. To take but one well-known example, President Clinton in the 1994 State of the Union Address cited the absence of war among democracies as a reason for promotion of democracy around the world. Assistance to former Warsaw Pact and newly independent states has been made conditional to varying degrees on the acceptance of democratic change. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development and associated non-governmental organizations have unleashed armies of promoters of democracy throughout the region to: observe elections; monitor human rights; draft new constitutions and laws defending civil and political rights; train judges and police personnel; and organize and assist political parties, media and non-governmental pressure groups. In short, they have sought to transplant the fabric of civil society and democratic institutions. These armies have landed on terrain often quite foreign to them and have often displayed little sensitivity to the social, economic and political context in which they are operating. This may have contributed to results other than those intended.

scholarly journals Las Conferencias sobre el Cambio Climático – COP: Compromiso de Estados, Empresas y Comunidad

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 448
Author(s):  
Elsa Inés DALMASSO
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Heads Of State

Resumen: La Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas para el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC) establecida en mayo de 1992, en la «Cumbre de la Tierra de Río de Janeiro», entró en vigor en marzo de 1994 con la premisa de reforzar la conciencia pública a escala mundial sobre los problemas relativos al Cambio Climático. Entre sus objetivos principales se destaca la estabilización de las concentraciones de Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEI) en la atmósfera, para impedir riesgos en el sistema climático. La Conferencia de las Partes (COP) se establece como el órgano supremo de la Convención y la asociación de todos los países que forman parte de ella. Como asimismo lo es en calidad de Reunión de las Partes del Protocolo de Kioto (PK), En las reuniones anuales de la COP participan expertos en medio ambiente, ministros, jefes de estado y organizaciones no gubernamentales con la función de supervisar y examinar la aplicación de la Convención y del Protocolo. El objetivo es preparar inventarios de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero por las fuentes y su absorción por los sumideros, promoviendo y facilitando el intercambio de información sobre las medidas adoptadas y el desarrollo del proceso de negociación entre las Partes de la Convención. Concluyendo con la elaboración de un Compromiso de Estados, Empresas y Comunidad respecto a la regulación de los efectos sobre cambio climático.   Palabras clave: Cambio Climático; Naciones Unidas; Conferencia de las Partes.   Abstract: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established in May 1992, at the "Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro"; It entered into force in March 1994 with the premise of strengthening public awareness on a global scale about the problems related to Climate Change. Among its main objectives is the stabilization of concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, to prevent risks in the climate system. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is established as the supreme organ of the Convention and the association of all the countries that are part of it. As it is also in the capacity of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (KP), Environmental experts, ministers, heads of state and non-governmental organizations participate in the annual meetings of the COP, with the function of supervising and examining the application of the Convention and the Protocol, in order to prepare inventories of greenhouse gas emissions. greenhouse effect by the sources and their absorption by the sinks, promoting and facilitating the exchange of information on the measures adopted and the development of the negotiation process between the Parties to the Convention. Concluding with the elaboration of a Commitment of States, Companies and Community regarding the regulation of the effects on climate change Keywords: Climate Change; United Nations; Conference of the Parties

scholarly journals The Power of Peers: How Transnational Advocacy Networks Shape NGO Strategies on Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 637-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hadden ◽  
Lorien Jasny
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Transnational Advocacy ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Advocacy Networks ◽  
Transnational Advocacy Networks ◽  
Relational Processes ◽  
Network Autocorrelation ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

What explains variation in the tactical choices of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)? This article uses network autocorrelation models to establish how the tactical choices of climate change NGOs are shaped by their embeddedness in transnational advocacy networks. Specifically, it finds that NGOs are more likely to adopt protest tactics when adjacent organizations – those with whom they have direct ties – have already done so. The choices of equivalent organizations – those that occupy similar relational roles in the network – do not appear to be influential. Qualitative evidence also shows that NGOs are affected by relational pressure from their peers, which alters their perception of costs and benefits. These findings enhance understanding of how networks influence actors’ behavior and offer insights into the relational processes that generate protest in global politics.

Academic Analysis and U.S. Policy-Making on Africa: Reflections and Conclusions

1991 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-48
Author(s):  
David S. Wiley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Scholarly Community ◽  
Private Foundations ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Voice

Late in the 1980s, several major U.S. private foundations concluded that the concern for Africa in the country was weak. This weakness was reflected in the faint focus on U.S. foreign policy toward Africa in all three branches of government, in the halting voice for Africa or for U.S. interests there in the non-governmental organizations (think-tanks, religious organizations, lobbies), and in the small concern for U.S. policy or for affecting it in the African studies scholarly community. Indeed, the voice for Africa in the United States was neither strong nor effective.

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