Place-based climate change adaptation: A critical case study of climate change messaging and collective action in Churchill, Manitoba: Fid-Bau Portal

Place-based climate change adaptation: A critical case study of climate change messaging and collective action in Churchill, Manitoba

Groulx, Mark / Lewis, John / Lemieux, Christopher / Dawson, Jackie

Abstract

Highlights • Climate change risks are perceived along ecocentric and anthropocentric dimensions. • Nature relatedness can be a platform for developing rapid place connections. • Citizens’ sensitivity to climate impacts is tied to a social connection to place. • Salient messages are spatially and temporally congruent but also have a ‘social fit’. • Messages that are socially salient can better motive collective climate action.

Abstract Climate change adaptation frameworks often emphasize tangible community vulnerabilities, but typically fail to recognize that healthy, vibrant, and resilient communities are also based on many factors that are experiential in nature. In response to the continued undervaluation of such factors, scholars are adopting place identity and place attachment as a way to explore the risks of climate change in a more holistic manner. This study draws on Churchill, Manitoba's unique relationship with climate change to present an early examination of place-based climate change adaptation. Results from a community survey suggest that citizens’ sensitivity to local climate impacts is associated most strongly with their connection to the social meanings that are embedded in the natural landscape. Results also indicate that this place driven sensitivity does not necessarily lead to an increase in actions to adapt to climate change. It is suggested that inaction in the face of climate change can persist, even when citizens’ have a strong connection to place, particularly because dominant climate change communications fail to produce a socially salient message. By linking place-based adaptation research to an emerging value-based frame for climate adaptation, this study presents new pathways to help legitimize local values in climate change adaptation processes, and to create frames for communication that are more conducive to fostering collective action.