Abstract
Scholars and activists alike contend that extreme weather events may provide the best opportunity for raising public awareness and perhaps even instigating action related to climate change. We explore whether the September 2013 floods were associated with local climate change beliefs and actions after the event via an in-depth case study in Boulder County, CO. Based on analysis of local newspapers and policy documents, responses from an event-specific survey, and semi-structured interviews, we show that Boulder County residents readily connected the flooding event to climate change despite competing scientific claims about the link. Moreover, while the event did not necessarily alter existing climate change beliefs, it did create a greater sense of vulnerability to and increased awareness of the risks posed by climate change. In terms of climate change action after the event, residents and policymakers appeared to place a greater emphasis on adaptation to future extreme events, with a focus on building resilience through social capital. Yet, we also uncovered a complex relationship between social capital and resilience, particularly in terms of the impact of the event on already marginalized and vulnerable populations. This study adds to a growing body of research on climate change beliefs and actions in the wake of extreme weather events.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
For the NewsBank search function an asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that substitutes a subset of all possible characters. For example, the search term flood* returns keyword searches for flood, floods, flooding, flooded, floodplain, etc. All keywords are case insensitive.
References
Adger WN (2003) Social capital, collective action, and adaptation to climate change. Econ Geogr 79(4):387–404
Akerlof K, Maibach EW, Fitzgerald D, Cedeno AY, Neuman A (2013) Do people “personally experience” global warming, and if so how, and does it matter? Glob Environ Chang 23:81–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.006
Albright EA, Crow DA (2015) Learning in the aftermath of extreme floods: community damage and stakeholder perceptions of future risk. Risk Haz Crisis Publ Policy 6:308–328. https://doi.org/10.1002/rhc3.12085
Aldrich DP (2012) Building resilience: social capital in post-disaster recovery. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Aldrich DP, Meyer MA (2014) Social capital and community resilience. Am Behav Sci 59:254–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214550299
BoCo Strong (2017) Mission and vision: keeping boco strong focused on people and community. http://bocostrong.org/en/mission/. Accessed August 4, 2017
Borick CP, Lachapelle E (2015) Seasons gone by: Weather and climate change perceptions in Canada and the United States. Paper presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, PA
Borick CP, Rabe BG (2010) A reason to believe: examining the factors that determine individual views on global warming. Soc Sci Quart 91:777–800
Borick CP, Rabe BG (2014) Weather or not? Examining the impact of meteorological conditions on public opinion regarding global warming. Weather Clim Soc 6:413–424. https://doi.org/10.1175/wcas-d-13-00042.1
Borick CP, Rabe BG (2017) Personal experience, extreme weather events, and perceptions of climate change, Mar 2017 edn. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.311
Boulder County (2017) Climate Change Preparedness. https://www.bouldercounty.org/environment/sustainability/climate-change/. Accessed July 25, 2017
Boulder County Land Use (2016) Flood 2013 Inundated Areas. http://gis.bouldercounty.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/a9624bd25d854ef7ab0d543e9490ce48_0. Accessed July 1, 2016
Boulder County Land Use & U.S. Forest Service (2016) Fourmile Canyon Fire Progression. http://gis.bouldercounty.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/d14f74167be14b1eb033c6ddc48ce0de_0. Accessed August 23, 2016
Brody SD, Zahran S, Vedlitz A, Grover H (2008) Examining the relationship between physical vulnerability and public perceptions of global climate change in the United States. Environ Behav 40:72–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916506298800
Brooks J, Oxley D, Vedlitz A, Zahran S, Lindsey C (2014) Abnormal daily temperature and concern about climate change across the U.S. Rev Policy Res 31:199–217
Brulle RJ, Carmichael J, Craig Jenkins J (2012) Shifting public opinion on climate change: an empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002–2010. Clim Chang 114:169–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0403-y
Capstick SB, Demski CC, Sposato RG, Pidgeon NF, Spence A, Corner A (2015) Public perceptions of climate change in Britain following the winter 2013/2014 flooding. Cardiff University, Cardiff
Carlton JS, Mase AS, Knutson CL, Lemos MC, Haigh T, Todey DP, Prokopy LS (2016) The effects of extreme drought on climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and adaptation attitudes. Clim Chang 135:211–226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1561-5
Demski C, Capstick S, Pidgeon N, Sposato RG, Spence A (2016) Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses. Clim Chang 140:149–164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1837-4
Deryugina T (2013) How do people update? The effects of local weather fluctuations on beliefs about global warming. Clim Chang 118:397–416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0615-1
Dietz T, Dan A, Shwom R (2007) Support for climate change policy: social psychological and social structural influences. Rural Sociol 72:185–214
Dike K (2013) Xcel is on the verge of obsolescence. Daily Camera, Boulder
Ding D, Maibach EW, Zhao X, Roser-Renouf C, Leiserowitz A (2011) Support for climate policy and societal action are linked to perceptions about scientific agreement. Nat Clim Chang 1:462–466
Dunlap RE, McCright AM (2008) A widening gap: republican and democratic views on climate change. Environment 50:26–35
Egan PJ, Mullin M (2012) Turning personal experience into political attitudes: the effect of local weather on americans’ perceptions about global warming. J Polit 74:796–809. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022381612000448
Folke C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses. Glob Environ Chang 16:253–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.04.002
Geiger N, Swim JK (2016) Climate of silence: pluralistic ignorance as a barrier to climate change discussion. J Environ Psychol 47:79–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.05.002
Gerring J (2007) Is there a (viable) crucial-case method? Comp Polit Stud 40:231–253
Goebbert K, Jenkins-Smith HC, Klockow K, Nowlin MC, Silva CL (2012) Weather, climate, and worldviews: the sources and consequences of public perceptions of changes in local weather patterns. Weather Clim Soc 4:132–144. https://doi.org/10.1175/wcas-d-11-00044.1
Goedecke W (2013) Boulder’s flood response fuels push to municipal energy. Daily Camera, Boulder
Hamilton LC (2010) Education, politics and opinions about climate change evidence for interaction effects. Clim Chang 104:231–242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-010-9957-8
Hamilton LC, Stampone MD (2013) Blowin’ in the wind: short-term weather and belief in anthropogenic climate change. Weather Clim Soc 5:112–119. https://doi.org/10.1175/wcas-d-12-00048.1
Hamilton LC, Wake CP, Hartter J, Safford TG, Puchlopek AJ (2016) Flood realities, perceptions and the depth of divisions on climate. Sociology 50:913–933. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516648547
Harding HK (2013) Boulder businesses need to do their part and recycle. Daily Camera, Boulder
Hesse-Biber SN, Leavy P (2011) The practice of qualitative research. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles
Hmielowski JD, Feldman L, Myers TA, Leiserowitz A, Maibach E (2013) An attack on science? Media use, trust in scientists, and perceptions of global warming. Public Underst Sci 23:866–883. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662513480091
Hoerling M et al (2014) Northeast Colorado extreme rains interpreted in a climate change context. Bull Amer Meteor Soc 95:S15–S18
Howe P, Mildenberger M, Marlon J, Leiserowitz A (2015) Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA. Nat Clim Chang 5:596–603. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2583
Howe PD, Boudet H, Leiserowitz A, Maibach EW (2014) Mapping the shadow of experience of extreme weather events. Clim Chang 127:381–389. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1253-6
Howe PD, Markowitz EM, Lee TM, Ko C-Y, Leiserowitz A (2013) Global perceptions of local temperature change. Nat Clim Chang 3:352–356. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1768
Howe PD, Leiserowitz A (2013) Who remembers a hot summer or a cold winter? The asymmetric effect of beliefs about global warming on perceptions of local climate conditions in the U.S. Glob Environ Chang 23:1488–1500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.09.014
InterMountain Alliance (2017) InterMountain Alliance. http://www.intermountainalliance.org/. Accessed August 5, 2017
Joireman J, Barnes Truelove H, Duell B (2010) Effect of outdoor temperature, heat primes and anchoring on belief in global warming. J Environ Psychol 30:358–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.03.004
Kelley K (2006) City approves ‘carbon tax’ in effort to reduce gas emissions. New York Times, New York
Kellstedt PM, Zahran S, Vedlitz A (2008) Personal efficacy, the information environment, and attitudes toward global warming and climate change in the United States. Risk Anal 28:113–126
Keys N, Thomsen DC, Smith TF (2016) Adaptive capacity and climate change: the role of community opinion leaders. Local Environ 21:432–450. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2014.967758
Kirilenko AP, Molodtsova T, Stepchenkova SO (2015) People as sensors: mass media and local temperature influence climate change discussion on Twitter. Glob Environ Chang 30:92–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.11.003
Konisky DM, Hughes L, Kaylor CH (2016) Extreme weather events and climate change concern. Clim Chang 134:533–547. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1555-3
Krosnick JA, Holbrook AL, Lowe L, Visser PS (2006) The origins and consequences of democratic citizens’ policy agendas: a study of popular concern about global warming. Clim Chang 77:7–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9068-8
Krosnick JA, Holbrook AL, Visser PS (2000) The impact of the Fall 1997 debate about global warming on American public opinion. Public Underst Sci 9:239–260
LaLone MB (2012) Neighbors helping neighbors. J Appl Soc Sci 6:209–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1936724412458483
Lang C (2014) Do weather fluctuations cause people to seek information about climate change? Clim Chang 125:291–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1180-6
Lang C, Ryder JD (2016) The effect of tropical cyclones on climate change engagement. Clim Chang 135:625–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1590-0
Lappé M (2013) Guest column: warming hits home. The Daily Camera, Boulder
Leiserowitz A (2006) Climate change risk perception and policy preferences: the role of affect, imagery, and values. Clim Chang 77:45–72
Leiserowitz A, Feinberg G, Howe P, Rosenthal SA (2013a) Climate change in the Coloradan mind: July 2013. Yale University, New Haven
Leiserowitz A, Maibach E, Roser-Renouf C, Feinberg G, Howe P (2013b) Climate change in the American mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in April 2013. Yale University and George Mason University, New Haven
Li Y, Johnson EJ, Zaval L (2011) Local warming daily temperature change influences belief in global warming. Psychol Sci 22:454–459
Lubell M, Zahran S, Vedlitz A (2007) Collective action and citizen responses to global warming. Polit Behav 29:391–413. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-006-9025-2
Maibach EW, Leiserowitz A, Roser-Renouf C, Mertz C (2011) Identifying like-minded audiences for global warming public engagement campaigns: an audience segmentation analysis and tool development. PLoS One 6:e17571
Malka A, Krosnick JA, Langer G (2009) The association of knowledge with concern about global warming: trusted information sources shape public thinking. Risk Anal 29:633–647
Marquart-Pyatt S, Shwom R, Dietz T, Dunlap RE, Kaplowitz SA, McCright AM, Zahran S (2011) Understanding public opinion on climate change: a call for research. Environment 53:38–42
Maxwell JA (2005) Qualitative research design: an interactive approach, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks
McAdam D (2017) Social movement theory and the prospects for climate change activism in the United States. Annu Rev of Polit Sci 20:189–208. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-052615-025801
McAdam D, Boudet HS (2012) Putting social movements in their place: explaining opposition to energy projects in the United States, 2000–2005. Cambridge studies in contentious politics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
McCarthy JF (2014) Using community led development approaches to address vulnerability after disaster: caught in a sad romance. Glob Environ Chang 27:144–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.05.004
McCright AM (2010) The effects of gender on climate change knowledge and concern in the American public. Popul Environ 32:66–87
McCright AM, Dunlap RE (2011a) Cool dudes: the denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States. Glob Environ Chang 21:1163–1172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.06.003
McCright AM, Dunlap RE (2011b) The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American public’s views of global warming, 2001–2010. Sociol Quart 52:155–194
McCright AM, Dunlap RE, Xiao C (2013) Perceived scientific agreement and support for government action on climate change in the USA. Clim Chang 119:511–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0704-9
McDonald RI, Chai HY, Newell BR (2015) Personal experience and the ‘psychological distance’ of climate change: an integrative review. J Environ Psychol 44:109–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.10.003
Miles MB, Huberman AM, Saldaña J (2014) Qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks
Moser SC (2016) Reflections on climate change communication research and practice in the second decade of the 21st century: what more is there to say? WIREs Clim Change 7:345–369. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.403
Mullin M, Rubado ME (2017) Local response to water crisis: explaining variation in usage restrictions during a Texas drought. Urban Aff Rev 53:752–774. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087416657199
Myers TA, Maibach EW, Roser-Renouf C, Akerlof K, Leiserowitz AA (2013) The relationship between personal experience and belief in the reality of global warming. Nat Clim Chang 3:343–347. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1754
Norgaard KM (2011) Living in denial: climate change, emotions, and everyday life. MIT Press, Cambridge
O'Connor RE, Bord RJ, Yarnal B, Wiefek N (2002) Who wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Soc Sci Quart 83(1):15
Putnam RD (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New York
Renn O (2011) The social amplification/attenuation of risk framework: application to climate change. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 2:154–169
Reser JP, Bradley GL, Ellul MC (2014) Encountering climate change: ‘seeing’ is more than ‘believing’. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 5:521–537. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.286
Rudman LA, McLean MC, Bunzl M (2013) When truth is personally inconvenient, attitudes change. Psychol Sci 24:2290–2296. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613492775
Semenza JC, Hall DE, Wilson DJ, Bontempo BD, Sailor DJ, George LA (2008) Public perception of climate change: voluntary mitigation and barriers to behavior change. Am J Prev Med 35:479–487
Shao W, Keim B, Grand J, Hamilton L (2014) Weather, climate, and the economy: explaining risk perceptions of global warming, 2001–10. Weather Clim Soc 6:119–134
Sharp EG (2014) Colorado’s economy, environment will benefit from new EPA carbon standards. The Daily Camera, Boulder
Sisco MR, Bosetti V, Weber EU (2017) When do extreme weather events generate attention to climate change? Clim Chang 143:227–241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-1984-2
Smith A, Jenkins K (2013) Climate change and extreme weather in the USA: discourse analysis and strategies for an emerging ‘public’. J Environ Stud Sci 3:259–268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-013-0132-1
Spence A, Poortinga W, Butler C, Pidgeon NF (2011) Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience. Nat Clim Chang 1:46–49. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1059
Stern PC (2000) Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. J Soc Issues 56:407–424
Stern PC, Dietz T, Abel T, Guagnano GA, Kalof L (1999) A value-belief-norm theory of support for social movements: the case of environmentalism. Hum Ecol Rev 6:81–97
Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy, Inc. (2014) 2013 Boulder City/County Climate Issues Survey. Retrieved from https://www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/2013_City_County_Climate_Action_Attitudes_and_Behaviors_Survey_Findings_PPT-1-201402201624.pdf
Trenberth KE, Fasullo JT, Shepherd TG (2015) Attribution of climate extreme events. Nat Clim Chang 5:725–730. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2657
U.S. Geological Survey (2015) The national map: elevation. http://nationalmap.gov/elevation.html Accessed July 1, 2016
Weber EU (2006) Experience-based and description-based perceptions of long-term risk: why global warming does not scare us (yet). Clim Chang 77:103–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9060-3
Weber EU (2016) What shapes perceptions of climate change? New research since 2010. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 7:125–134. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.377
Whitmarsh L (2008) Are flood victims more concerned about climate change than other people? The role of direct experience in risk perception and behavioural response. J Risk Res 11:351–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669870701552235
Wolf J, Moser SC (2011) Individual understandings, perceptions, and engagement with climate change: insights from in-depth studies across the world. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 2:547–569. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.120
Wood BD, Vedlitz A (2007) Issue definition, information processing, and the politics of global warming. Am J Polit Sci 51:552–568
Zahran S, Brody SD, Grover H, Vedlitz A (2006) Climate change vulnerability and policy support. Soc Natur Resour 19:771–789. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920600835528
Zaval L, Keenan EA, Johnson EJ, Weber EU (2014) How warm days increase belief in global warming. Nat Clim Chang 4:143–147. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2093
Funding
Funding for this work was provided in part by the National Science Foundation Sociology Program grant no. 1357055, Community Reactions to Extreme Weather Events. We would like to acknowledge the individuals from Boulder County who generously offered their time for interviews and surveys.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(PDF 426 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shepard, S., Boudet, H., Zanocco, C.M. et al. Community climate change beliefs, awareness, and actions in the wake of the September 2013 flooding in Boulder County, Colorado. J Environ Stud Sci 8, 312–325 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-018-0479-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-018-0479-4