Talk Title and Abstract
Title: Adaptation to Climate Change: Lessons from the US Coastal Zone
Abstract: Modern economies are complex, coupled human-natural systems involving nonlinear feedbacks between natural (bio-geo-chemical-physical) processes and human (institutional and behavioral) responses across space and time. Global trends in climate change and their manifestation at local levels are particularly evident in the coastal zone, producing both chronic (accelerating long-term beach erosion) and acute (storm surge flooding and hurricane force winds) impacts. As such, the coastal economy is akin to the coalmine canary that may portend potential complications and calamities related to climate change. This talk reviews and synthesizes recent research on (mal)adaptation in the US coastal zone, with an eye towards lessons learned and potential research topics on adaptation in other parts of the world.