Facilitating Behavior Change of Coastal Communities in Response to Climatic Hazards Marisa Nixon HPR 401 Sponsor Judith Swift May 4, 2010

The Climate Change Collaborative An Introduction Three-year Rhode Island Sea Grant collaborative research project Created in response to global climate change Focusing first on marina owners and construction companies as target areas

The Climate Change Collaborative Chosen Indicators Sea level rise Increased storminess Produced by the Providence Plan Data Sources: RIGIS, City of Providence Jim Lucht and Haidee Janak, August 2008

The Climate Change Collaborative Goals and Outcomes Goal: to create a team of researchers that will pursue an understanding of the human elements needed to achieve livable, more sustainable coastal communities and ecosystems in a changing world Outcomes: – A synthesis of climate change research; – Innovative behavior change models for coastal communities; – New capability of decision makers to communicate climate change to citizens and motivate behavior change; – A living laboratory opportunity for the state; – Institutional capacity of URI to create a Climate Institute

The Climate Change Collaborative Team Members Communications Subgroup Judith Swift (CI, Comm., Co-PI) Norbert Mundorf (Comm.) Chip Young (CI/CRC Comm. Specialist) Marisa Nixon (Student, Honors Program, ENRE) Science Subgroup Isaac Ginis (GSO, Co-PI) Mike Bueti (Student, GSO) Behavior Subgroup Jim Prochaska (CPRC, Behavior Science, Co- PI) Heather McGee (Student, CPRC) Project Management/Extension Pam Rubinoff (CRC, Co-PI) Virginia Lee (CRC) Garrison Hull (CRC, Administration) Carrie Gill (Student, Blue MBA)

The Climate Change Collaborative Preliminary Methods Using Dr. Prochaska’s Trans-theoretical model to inform our education and messaging efforts; Messages and behavior suggestions will vary based on staging; Compiling climate and behavior change resources, et al. Participated in several sectors of the project, each with a different focus.

Process Description Entire Collaborative Met approximately once every 5 weeks Updated each other on different sects of the project Discussed project developments Made important group decisions Communicated ideas and resources to one another through central web-site Progress Made: Have synthesized our goals and outlined how to accomplish them Moving forward with creation of focus groups and data collection

Process Description Communications Subgroup Met bi-weekly Discussed –How to help scientists communicate with the public –Effective ways of communicating to people in different stages of the TTM –Creation of potential visual and verbal messages to the public Progress made: Resource compilation Understanding of efficacy of pros and cons Visual messaging examples

Process Description Communications Subgroup Message examples illustrated by Arthur Mead, Jr.

Process Description Student Collaboration Touched base with one another about project areas Worked on aspects of project that needed to be accomplished by entire group Progress Made: Developed three key behaviors as the desired outcome for the behavior change model Developed preliminary list of pros and cons Talked to local businesses about preliminary thoughts and focus group interest Compiled list of conservation groups

Looking Toward the Future Moving toward conducting focus groups: –Gain more concrete data –Create messages for education and change

Personal Value Benefits of working with a knowledgeable interdisciplinary team –Academic –Collaboration skills Satisfaction of being a fully contributing member Experience and education to enable future career in outreach and policy

Future Engagement Continuation of resource compilation Assist in survey development Outreach to focus group participants Coastal Institute Undergraduate Research Fellow –Year of involvement and support

Acknowledgements The University of Rhode Island URI Honors Program Honors Opportunity Fund Coastal Institute Coastal Resources Center Cancer Prevention Research Center Rhode Island Sea Grant Judith Swift, all members of the Collaborative and all others who assisted me this semester