Building Resiliency: U.S. Local Governments and Natural Disasters

• In Event: The Politics of Adaptation Governance: Emerging Sub-National Challenges

Abstract

This paper attempts to define a relationship between natural disasters, public perceptions of climate change, and climate resilience. I utilize county-level data from the United States, Yale Program Climate Communication, FEMA, and the EPA’s Climate Resiliency Screening Index (CRSI) to measure climate change perceptions, disasters, and policy. Using an OLS regression and interacting disasters and perception, I examine whether resiliency development at the county level can be explained theoretically through Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Approach.

Author

• Carley Weted, American University