HR: 16:30h
AN: PA24A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Coastal Communities for Climate Change Information
AU: Harte, M
EM: mharte@coas.oregonstate.edu
AF: Oregon State University, 104 COAS Administration, Corvallis, OR 97330, United States
AU: * Lach, D
EM: denise.lach@oregonstate.edu
AF: Oregon State University, 309B Fairbanks Hall Department of Sociology, Corvallis, OR 97330, United States
AB: Climate change has touched the lives of many coastal residents. Yet, as a focus of community outreach efforts, climate change remains a challenging endeavor that is often conducted with a "one-size-fits-all" approach that often polarizes debate rather than informs discussion and learning about climate change. While it may seem obvious to scientists and disseminators of science that coastal residents can benefit from climate information as they deal with changes in the environment, it may not be so obvious to coastal residents just what they should do with the information. Existing management regimes, infrastructure, and practices – all developed over time to respond to a wide range of climate conditions – may, with some modification, be able to manage threats to coastal communities through the foreseeable future. In this sense, adaptation to climate variability has been and continues to be an on-going and iterative process for coastal communities. We posit that residents' experiences mediate their perceptions and attitudes towards climate change, climate variability and global warming. We also postulate that greater recognition of the experiential dimension of risk perception has fundamental implications for the type and mode of information about climate change sought by coastal communities. If this is true, extension and outreach materials on climate change provided by science communicators may need a fundamental makeover to better reflect the experiences of its target audiences. This includes accepting that information provision about climate variability, climate change and global warming is a fundamentally different activity than attempting to gain acceptance for collective action or to change individual behaviors.
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
DE: 6309 Decision making under uncertainty
SC: Public Affairs [PA]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting