When climate change adaptation becomes a “looming threat” to society: Exploring views and responses to California wildfires and public safety power shutoffs

When climate change adaptation becomes a “looming threat” to society: Exploring views and responses to California wildfires and public safety power shutoffs
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当气候变化适应成为社会“迫在眉睫的威胁”时:探索对加州野火和公共安全断电的看法和应对措施

DOI:
10.1016/j.erss.2020.101757
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发表时间:
2020
影响因子:
6.7
通讯作者:
G. Wong‐Parodi
G. Wong‐Parodi
中科院分区:
经济学2区
文献类型:
--
作者:
G. Wong‐Parodi

文献摘要

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世界各地的社区将越来越多地被要求承担气候变化直接影响的负担,以及与避免最坏情况有关的外部因素。这就引出了一个问题:我们如何保护生活在气候影响下的人口的福祉,而不因规划或管理不善的适应行动而造成无意的伤害?这是一项探索性的试点研究,调查了受历史性和前所未有的广泛公共安全断电(PSPS)影响的人群,以减轻太平洋天然气和电力公司(PG&E)和南加州爱迪生(SCE)在2019年10月和11月发生野火的风险,导致数百万人断电。研究结果表明,PSPS可能代表着一种“迫在眉睫的威胁”,这种威胁与报告的近期身体和心理健康状况较差有关,而自我报告的创伤则加剧了先前经历野火的创伤,特别是在最脆弱的人群中。这种威胁显然在北方加州最为严重,那里的人们经历了更大范围的关闭,最近经历了毁灭性的野火,并对他们的公用事业如何贡献和应对最近的野火表示愤怒。尽管如此,人们在很大程度上支持PSPS作为减少野火风险的重要方式,即使他们报告遭受这种适应措施。这些结果表明,人们理解并同情对PSPS的需要;然而,如果不全面考虑气候适应的后果,可能会出现意想不到的健康影响。
Communities worldwide will increasingly be called upon to bear the burden of the direct impact of climate change, and also the externalities associated with avoiding the worst. This begs the question: How do we protect the well-being of populations living with climate impacts without causing unintentional harm via poorly planned or managed adaptation actions? ThisPerspectivepresenting an exploratory pilot study surveyed populations affected by the historic and unprecedented widespread public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) to mitigate the risk of wildfires by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) in October and November 2019 that left millions without power. The results suggest that PSPS likely represents a ‘looming threat’ that is associated with reported poorer recent physical and mental health, exacerbated by self-reported trauma lingering from previous experience with wildfires, especially among the most vulnerable. This threat is apparently most acute in northern California, where people experienced greater widespread shutoffs, more recent experience with devastating wildfires, and expressed anger toward how their utility contributed and responded to recent wildfires. Despite this, people are largely supportive of PSPS as an important way to reduce the bigger risk of wildfires, even as they report suffering from this adaptation measure. These results suggest that people understand and are sympathetic regarding the need for PSPS; yet without holistic consideration of the consequences of climate adaptation, unintended health impacts may arise.