SGER: How Soon is Soon Enough? Understanding National Public Perceptions of the Need to Act on Very Long Term Threats as a Result of Hurricane Katrina

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ABSTRACTMajor impacts like Katrina are windows of opportunity for public learning and action on long-term threats facing us, but how well do we know how people's heightened awareness persists or recedes? This short-term, exploratory investigation captures data on public attitudes toward, and personal adjustment action intentions in response to, long-term coastal hazards. The focus is on the influence of Katrina on public views about future hurricanes and the related but long term threats of global warming. The study focuses specifically on publics in six coastal cities not impacted by Katrina. It explores how attitudes and intentions of the respondents have developed soon after the current Gulf disaster, and months after the emergency/short-term recovery period is over. Data come from a total exploratory respondent group of 300 adults randomly sampled in equal proportions (50 from each city) who are surveyed at two points in time. The objectives are to: 1. understand how major hazard impacts influence public thinking about future threats, including more uncertain ones far in the future; 2. understand how personal actions to learn more about or adjust to such hazards develop dynamically over time and; 3. explore methods to understand public views on hazards more developmentally, beyond one-time snapshots of views. This study contributes to our understanding of how a centennial disaster of Katrina's scale affects public opinion toward and intentions to adjust to coastal hazards and related long-term global change threats. The underutilized methodology of longitudinal engagement of the public in such studies is explored. As such, this study can contribute to knowledge-based public deliberation about long-term hazards policy and also suggest methods to explore long-debated but infrequently tested issues about how to support large-scale public engagement in long-term hazards planning at a national level.