Doctoral Dissertation: Extreme Heat Governance for Rural Agricultural Communities

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project will advance understanding of cross-national differences in responses to extreme heat events. It fills a research gap by focusing on extreme heat in rural and agricultural communities. Extreme heat events are a risk to public health, livestock, crops, and economies. This study will examine two different approaches to rural adaptation to extreme heat. While rural communities in each place face similar climate-related challenges, there are crucial differences in the roles that rural landowners take within environmental and climate change governance. This study will compare the extreme heat adaptation measures that are taking shape in two places to understand how national and state-level policies interact with local cultures and values to create distinctive approaches. The study will lead to recommendations and best practice examples that will be of interest to emergency planners, policy makers, local governments, and rural residents. The research uses an interpretative and comparative case study approach, focusing on two regions. Data will be gathered to answer the following research questions: 1) What factors are shaping the extreme heat adaptation policies in each region? 2) How do local knowledge and social orders shape the implementation of climate adaptation programs that are developed on the regional/national scale? 3) What role do and could local actors play in shaping the response strategies to environmental hazards, such as heat, and their implementation ? and how can their stronger involvement as community leaders strengthen these solutions? Data collection will involve participant observation of public meetings and hearings, an analysis of public records and publicly available materials/data, and interviews. Interviews will be conducted with three different categories of participants: regulators and policymakers (such as policy analysts, adaptation program coordinators, public officials), scientists and agricultural professionals, and rural residents (such as local community leaders, advocates, participants in public meetings). The results of this investigation will make a novel contribution by revealing how the problem of extreme heat is being addressed in rural communities that have locally-specific challenges and priorities.