TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Trial by fire: support for mitigation and adaptation policy after the 2020 Oregon wildfires
JO  - Weather, climate, and society
A1  - Giordono, Leanne
A1  - Siddiqi, Muhammad Usman Amin
A1  - Stelmach, Greg
A1  - Zanocco, Chad
A1  - Flora, June
A1  - Boudet, Hilary
SP  - 633
EP  - 664
VL  - 15
IS  - 3
N2  - The September 2020 Oregon wildfires were unprecedented in terms of their geographic scope and the number of communities affected by smoke and wildfire. Although it is difficult to directly attribute the event to climate change, scientists have noted the strong connection between warmer and drier conditions in the western United States--conditions that are linked to climate change--and increasing wildfire risk. These wildfires thus had the potential to act as a "focusing event," potentially strengthening public support for climate change policy. Political ideology is a well-known driver of public support for climate change mitigation policies in the United States, but few studies have examined adaptation policy support. Moreover, other factors shaping postevent support for the two "pillars" of climate change policy--adaptation and mitigation--have rarely been compared. We conducted a survey of Oregonians within 6 months of the 2020 wildfires (n = 1308) to understand postevent support for climate mitigation and adaptation policies. We found that the magnitude of the association between political ideology and policy support was lower for adaptation policies than for mitigation policies, and there was no association with support for forest management changes. In contrast, selected sociodemographic characteristics played a more important role in support for selected adaptation policies than for mitigation policies. Significance Statement Increasing wildfire risk in the western United States is connected to warmer and drier conditions, both of which are linked to climate change. Most research on postevent support for climate change policy has focused on climate change mitigation policies. This study examines and compares public support for both mitigation and adaptation policies after the 2020 Oregon wildfires, yielding important information about the factors that shape support for each.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1948-8327
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-22-0075.1
ID  - ref1
ER  -