Introduction
Background
Climax Thinking
Public Perceptions of Nature-based Coastal Adaptation
Methods
Study Area
Online Focus Groups
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Past priming sought to convey to participants that the dramatic changes needed for coastal adaptation are only the most recent in a long line of changes people have faced on the same coast as their needs have changed (Table 1, row 3). This was implemented by a facilitated discussion of past changes on their coast, for instance due to changing economic base, and how citizens coped (Table 1, row 4). Such a discussion was designed to counter unreflective (or perhaps selective) nostalgia, as described by Lowenthal (1975), and to remind participants of the longer term anthropogenic trajectory (Hanley et al. 2009).Table 1A simplified pathology of climax thinking and how it was implemented in the focus groupsPastFutureAltruismPathology-ExceptionalismPrevious land uses were just paving the way for this oneFuture generations matter less than this oneSomeone else should need to accept change before I do.Pathology-UncertaintyThere were no previous land usesCurrent solutions will continue to work in futureLocal landscape decisions do not affect people elsewhereFocus group primingThis change is just one of many your coast has faced over time as needs change.The things you love about being on the coast will persist under adaptation.We have faced big challenges together before and can do so again.Specific discussion topicsHow has your coast changed for reasons other than climate change (e.g., economy) and how did the community cope?What do you love about this coast that you hope future generations will get to experience, and what is your duty to those future residents?How did the residents of your community face wartime mobilization and what made that possible?
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Future priming sought to explore the idea that adaptation would not erase their enjoyment of living on the coast. This was achieved through a discussion about what participants enjoyed about living on the coast that they would also like future generations to experience (e.g., sound, smell, view, community), and whether they might need to act to ensure that future enjoyment. This aligns with other effective future-oriented framings described in the climate literature (Zaval et al. 2015; Stern et al. 2020).
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Altruism priming sought to explore the benefits of associating sacrifices in the name of climate change with other satisfactions of collective action, inspired by Solnit (2010). This priming experiment used wartime mobilization as a point of discussion, despite some debates in doing so (Kester and Sovacool 2017; Patterson et al. 2021), asking what sacrifices their communities made to help the war effort and whether they work together today in any way. While wartime generations are fading, even the smallest towns have a cenotaph to commemorate the region’s involvement with past wars, and the sacrifices of war are remembered every November 11th (Remembrance Day); we expected such stories would also be passed down within families.
Pre- and Post-tests
Climax dimension | Pre-test (n = 97) | Pre (%) Mean (SD) | Post test (n = 81) | Post (%) Mean (SD) | Pre-post t-test |
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Past - E | 1a. I feel grateful to those who worked to make this coast what it is today. | 3, 3, 27, 33, 34 3.92 (1.01) | 2a. Mine is the kind of coastal landscape that previous residents were working towards. | 10, 21, 42, 17, 10 2.96 (1.10) | 5.39*** |
Past -I | 1b. I think the coast has always looked pretty much the same way that it does now. | 33, 34, 12, 19, 2 2.23 (1.16) | 2b. It to be living in a place that has changed so little over the years. | 9, 20, 23, 33, 15 3.26 (1.19) | −6.47*** |
Future-E | 1c. Decisions about the coast must consider the needs of its current residents above future residents. | 13, 29, 22, 22, 14 2.23 (1.16) | 2c. Future generations will have their own opportunity to make decisions about the coast; this is our turn. | 15, 22, 12, 36, 15 3.14 (1.33) | −0.98 |
Future-I | 1d. Our present coastal protection options have served us well and will protect future generations as well. | 14, 40, 31, 12, 2 2.47 (0.96) | 2d. Future coastal protection options will be pretty much the same ones that we have today. | 15, 27, 17, 36, 5 2.89 (1.19) | −1.91 |
Self-E | 1e. Decision-makers must do whatever is necessary to maintain my coastal landscape. | 2, 10, 20, 42, 26 3.79 (1.01) | 2e. I should not need to be personally affected by changing coastal conditions. | 32, 31, 20, 12, 5 2.27 (1.18) | 9.07*** |
Self-I | 1f. I could not cope with having significant changes to my cherished coastal landscape. | 6, 15, 32, 32, 14 3.33 (1.10) | 2f. I could never get used to significant changes in the coastal landscape at this stage in my life. | 23, 31, 17, 21, 7 2.58 (1.26) | 4.35*** |
Other-E | 1g. People should deal with their own coastline before worrying about others’. | 24, 33, 26, 15, 2 2.39 (10.08) | 2g. Our community is more deserving of public support to maintain its coastline than some others. | 19, 26, 33, 10, 12 2.72 (1.24) | −1.33 |
Other-I | 1h. What I do on my coast is nobody’s business but my own. | 38, 41, 10, 8, 2 1.95 (1.00) | 2h. Coastal management decisions made in one place have no impact elsewhere. | 41, 38, 5, 12, 4 2.00 (1.14) | −0.44 |
Results
Participant Demographics
Measuring Climax Thinking
Phenomenon | Pre (97) | Post (81) |
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Climax thinking | Climax-Pre (8) | Climax-Post (8) |
Alpha: 0.69 | Alpha: 0.70 | |
Mean: 2.88 | Mean: 2.72 | |
SD: 0.61 | SD: 0.69 | |
Self-orientation | Self-Pre (2) | Self-Post (2) |
Rho: 0.47*** | Rho: 0.44*** | |
Mean: 3.56 | Mean: 2.43 | |
SD: 0.91 | SD: 1.05 |
Impact of the Focus Groups on Climax Thinking Measures
Treatment (n) and scale | Pre-test | T-test pre control-other (p) | Post-test | T-test pre-post (p) | T-test post control-other (p) |
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All (n = 77) | |||||
Climax | 2.89 | – | 2.71 | 1.71 | – |
Self-orientation | 3.60 | – | 2.39 | 7.68*** | – |
Control (n = 22) | |||||
Climax | 2.85 | – | 2.91 | −0.39 | – |
Self-orientation | 3.41 | – | 2.55 | 2.81* | – |
Past (n = 13) | |||||
Climax | 2.74 | 1.29 (0.21) | 2.86 | −0.52 | 0.20 (0.85) |
Self-orientation | 3.31 | 0.91 (0.37) | 2.46 | 1.91 | 0.23 (0.82) |
Future (n = 19) | |||||
Climax | 3.12 | −0.88 (0.38) | 2.49 | 3.47** | 1.60 (0.12) |
Self-orientation | 3.87 | −0.89 (0.38) | 2.42 | 5.11*** | 0.06 (0.95) |
Altruism (n = 21) | |||||
Climax | 2.88 | −0.25 (0.80) | 2.63 | 1.10 | 1.65 (0.11) |
Self-orientation | 3.90 | −1.51 (0.14) | 2.19 | 6.55*** | 1.22 (0.23) |
Impact of the Treatments on Conversations about Coastal Adaptation
I know that if, you know, if the tide rises, well, not much we can do about it but if the tide rises a metre, I’d have 2 ft of water in my living room but, I have good faith in what we have so far, I think we’re protected… I also chose to live this close to the water, and it’s been here for, well, not my house but the property itself has been there for a long while. I’m hoping to get a, you know, a couple hundred years more out of it… Well, I can walk off my front deck, take three steps and jump in the Bay of Fundy. Also, on a real high tide, the tide is actually probably a little higher than my main floor, so I rely on the walls, the wall that I have out in front and all around property to protect it.
… in order to allow people to continue to live the way that we do… it’s going to be a huge expense but if we don’t make those adaptations and protect that infrastructure now, then that just means that in the future those communities are going to begin to disappear because people won’t be able to have a livelihood there… But if we don’t act now, we’re going to be faced with a much bigger problem in the future.