53-8 Understanding the reluctance of some rural communities to connect climate change with increasing hazard exposure.

Session: Community Engaged Research for Environmental Sustainability and Community Resilience

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The "information deficit model" in the context of climate change refers to the idea that public skepticism or lack of action regarding climate change is primarily due to a lack of knowledge about the scientific facts, and that providing more information to the public will therefore effectively change their attitudes and behaviors towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. This study challenges the assumptions of the information deficit model by highlighting how community history, geopolitics, and vulnerability shape climate change attitudes in Down East, a rural coastal region in North Carolina. Through a set of coded interviews with residents, we identified several key features of climate change denial and disengagement.

The study area is an unincorporated section of Carteret County adjacent to Cape Lookout National Seashore in eastern North Carolina. It is arguably one of the most sea level rise and storm vulnerable regions of the United States’ East Coast. Data collected by the Sunny Day Flooding Project show that high tide flooding inundated roads around 133 days in 2024. Sea level rise has lifted the local water table high enough that forests are dying and in-ground wastewater treatment systems (septic) are failing. Tropical storms routinely damage property and cut the community off from emergency access.

Despite these obvious changes and vulnerabilities, climate denialism and disengagement remain prevalent in the politically conservative, unincorporated communities of Down East North Carolina. Disaster-related language tends to elicit stronger responses than discussions framed explicitly around climate change. Although environmental oral traditions are traditionally viewed as a positive indicator of climate change awareness, this study found that they can generate varied beliefs. Interviewees with family histories in the fishing industry often invoked intergenerational knowledge to emphasize faith in a cyclical and balanced environment, underscoring a laissez-faire environmental ethic. Given these gaps, future climate communication strategies should pursue avenues of reciprocal education and attentive listening. To this end, we have engaged with a local cultural heritage center to begin a conversation with local residents through schools, churches and civic organizations. Ultimately, the goal is to address climate change impacts through conversations surrounding storm impacts, while developing adaptation projects that address storm-driven flooding and sea level rise simultaneously.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-10332

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