ABSTRACT

The concept of community, in all its diverse definitions and manifestations, provides a unique approach to learn more about how groups of individuals and organizations are addressing the challenges posed by climate change. This new volume highlights specific cases of communities developing innovative approaches to climate mitigation and adaptation around the United States. Defining community more comprehensively than just spatial geography to include also communities of interest, identity and practice, this book highlights how individuals and organizations are addressing the challenges posed by climate change through more resilient social processes, government policies and sustainable practices.

Through close examinations of community efforts across the United States, including agricultural stakeholder engagement and permaculture projects, coastal communities and prolonged drought areas, and university extension and local governments, this book shows the influence of building individual and institutional capacity toward addressing climate change issues at the community level. It will be useful to community development students, scholars and practitioners learning to respond to unexpected shocks and address chronic stress associated with climate change and its impacts.

chapter 1|12 pages

Community Approaches to Climate Change

Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century

part I|102 pages

Communities of Interest and Identity

chapter 2|21 pages

Earth’s Changing Climate

14A Community Primer

chapter 3|16 pages

Public Opinion on Climate Change in Rural America

A Potential Barrier to Resilience

chapter 5|18 pages

Creating a Civic Spark

Using AmeriCorps National Service to Catalyze Rural Climate Change Action

chapter 6|16 pages

Participatory Research to Assess the Climate Resiliency of Snow-Fed River Dependent Communities

A Collaborative Modeling Case Study in the Truckee-Carson River System

part II|80 pages

Communities of Practice

chapter 12|15 pages

University Extension Communities of Practice

Learning, Communicating and Engaging with Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the United States Corn Belt

part III|87 pages

Communities of Place

chapter 15|11 pages

Financial Resilience of Local Governments Impacted by Natural Disasters

A Framework for Calculating Climate Change Risk and Liability

chapter 18|7 pages

Local Adaptation to Climate Change

What Comes Next?