The Path of Least Resistance Projections of Social Inequalities as a Result of Climate Change in the United States

• In Event: 1461 - Environmental Change and Inequality

Abstract

Sea levels are expected to rise between 1m and 3m by 2100, threatening the millions of people presently residing in coastal communities. Although the current demographic characteristics of coastal communities are known, no study has accounted for the anticipated demographic changes likely to occur this century. Given the well-documented growth of minority and elderly populations in the United States (US), the future demographic composition of coastal communities will be markedly different from today. Here we use the treadmills of production and destruction frameworks coupled with recently published, long-range population projections to project the future demographic characteristics of communities threatened by SLR in the US. We show that communities of color and the elderly populations particularly vulnerable to environmental change- will be impacted the most by SLR. Our results lend to understanding the emerging inequality that SLR might create as well as policy recommendations for avenues of adaptation and mitigation.

Authors

• R. Kyle Saunders, Florida State University

• Mathew Hauer, Florida State University