 Risky business: Engaging the public on sea level rise and inundationKaren L. Akerlof, Katherine E. Rowan, Todd La Porte, Brian K. Batten, Howard Ernst and Dann M. Sklarew Environmental Science & Policy, 2016, vol. 66, issue C, 314-323 Abstract: To examine whether U.S. public opinion may become as sharply polarized on adaptation responses as it has been on mitigation policies, we surveyed a sample of urban coastal residents in Maryland (n=378). We then tested the impact of a community deliberative event (n=40) with small-group sea level rise discussions as a depolarization strategy. Cultural worldviews which contribute to politically polarized beliefs about climate were predictive of perceptions of sea level rise risk. Living close to flooding hazards also significantly predicted respondents’ perceptions of household or neighborhood risks, but not of risks to the entire county. The event significantly increased topic knowledge among all participants and, among those with a worldview predisposing them to lower risk perceptions, significantly increased problem identification and concern about impacts. These results suggest small-group deliberation focused on local problem-solving may be an effective tool for reducing the polarizing effects of cultural worldviews on decision-making. Keywords: Sea level rise; Risk perception; Deliberation; Communication; Public opinion; Climate adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enscpo:v:66:y:2016:i:c:p:314-323 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.07.002 Access Statistics for this article Environmental Science & Policy is currently edited by M. Beniston More articles in Environmental Science & Policy from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.