Residential Mobility and Community Recovery After Disasters Amidst Changing Climates: The Case of Northern New Mexico

• In Event: 21064 - Environment, Climate Change, and Mobility

Abstract

In this paper, I utilize various data sources around two specific cases to investigate the social construction of understanding and perceptions of disaster and climate change in the United States. First, I take a deep dive into the Calf Canyon-Hermit’s Peak Fire (henceforth CCHP) that blazed through over 300,000 acres of northern New Mexico from March through July 2022, becoming the second-largest fire in the state’s history. I conducted a smaller media analysis in preparation for in-person data collection, which is discussed in the paper. I finish by discussing how present-day climactic events presuppose mobility in rural communities and change the integration trajectory of settled migrant populations.

Author

• Daniel Jenks, University of Pennsylvania