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Uncertainty and climate change in the High Country: Examining legitimacy of action/inaction through isomorphism
Type of Session
Individual Paper Presentation
Abstract
Climate change presents an assortment of threats to communities all across the U.S. While coastal communities have received much attention due to the potential for sea level rise, communities in mountainous regions also face a variety of threats to their wellbeing from erosion, wild fires, variations in temperature and precipitation patterns, to diminished air quality conditions.
Because many communities in the seven counties comprising the High Country region of western North Carolina rank in lower quartiles regarding public health and economic indicators, climate change has the potential to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities within those communities. Therefore, it is important to examine how local governments and environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) perceive climate change and whether they are preparing to implement policies designed to mitigate or adapt to the pending changes.
To better understand if and how local governments and ENGOs in the High Country are preparing for climate change, this study explores attitudes regarding uncertainty related to climate change as well as how isomorphic pressure may or may not contribute to or undermine legitimacy in terms of implementing climate change policies. By examining and comparing the perspectives and actions of government officials with those of ENGOs, we might gain insight into areas of shared concerns as to how institutions might collaboratively adapt, thereby providing for the long-term wellbeing of the communities in the High Country.
Data includes survey responses and in-depth interviews. Preliminary findings indicate that local government officials and local ENGOs experience, respond to, and utilize normative, coercive, and mimetic pressures differently to solidify the legitimacy of their actions. Whereas local government officials might work to minimize coercive pressure and lean on normative and mimetic pressure, while local ENGOs might instead push coercive pressure and minimize mimetic or normative pressure.