Goal
The main focus of this project is detection of climate change through direct experience from glacial retreat, declining water availability, and flood risks in three Alpine regions: Swiss Alps, Peruvian Andes, and the U.S. Cascades. CRED's goal is to identify and examine community and individual attributes that influence expectations, encoding, and temporal framing of glacial retreat, and thus affect responses to climate change. Community variables studied include spatial proximity to glaciers, vulnerability to impacts of glacial retreat, balance of individual and public ownership of natural resources, and relevant organizations in the community. Individual variables include socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, ownership of resources impacted by glacial retreat, size of social networks, and extent of participation in community organizations. Collective discussions are held to examine group processes and goals in framing decisions and in using scientific information, within well established and cohesive community groups. This project will identify community and individual attributes that influence expectations, encoding and temporal framing of glacial retreat, and thus affect responses to climate change.

Background
Glacial retreat is a highly visible consequence of warming in Alpine environments. The gradual nature of glacial retreat is a typical example of the psychological challenges posed by climate change phenomena. Glacial changes have important effects on resources (streamflow) and on hazards (floods, rockfalls) and hence can elicit action plans. Three ideal regions for study are the Swiss Alps, Peruvian Andes, and the U.S. Cascades. They offer unique opportunities to study human decision-making about climate change. The impacts are directly observable, can be linked to long-term datasets and records that document physical and social processes of change, and available GIS data for the location of human settlements, hydrology, and physical hazards.

Research Questions
Does informational material affect individual and community perceptions and encodings of ongoing change and their actions or reactions to such change?

How different are individual and community recollections of glacial retreat from actual changes recorded by meteorological agencies?

Publications
Orlove, B.S. (2009). Glacier retreat: Reviewing the limits of human adaptation to climate change. Environment, 51(3), 22-34.

Orlove, B.S., Wiegandt, E., & Luckman, B.H. (2008). Darkening Peaks: Glacial Retreat, Science and Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Orlove, B.S., Wiegandt, E., & Luckman, B.H. (2008). The Place of Glaciers in Natural and Cultural Landscapes. In Orlove, B., Wiegandt, E. and Luckman, B. (Eds.). Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science and Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Darkening Peaks Blog- A Forum for News About the World's Shrinking Glaciers and the People Who are Affected by Them

Last Updated: September 14, 2009