The Demographics of Public Participation Access When Communicating Environmental Risk

Date

2018-09

Authors

Kuser Olsen, V. Beth
Galloway, Gerald E.
Ruth, Matthias

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ANU Press

Abstract

The interaction between humans and their environment is epitomized by climate change issues. Public engagement is essential to communicating anticipated changes and shifting risks. We investigated one such risk—flooding in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. We examined the demographics of flood risk management meeting participants and found they were significantly older, English-only speakers, better educated, more affluent, and more likely to be homeowners than the United States Census Bureau data indicate for the region’s population. The aggregate gender and ethnic representation of all communities reflected that of the region’s population, but individual communities were much less diverse. These findings show that it is important for risk managers to organize meetings in many local communities in their jurisdiction to capture all demographically diverse sectors. Outreach efforts should adapt to target younger community members, non-English speakers, lowerwage earners, and renters.

Description

Keywords

demographics, public engagement, risk management

Citation

Source

Human Ecology Review

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

Open Access via publisher website

License Rights

Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND; creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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The Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates and pays our respects to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations Australians on whose traditional lands we meet and work, and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.


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