The Climate Crisis: All Politics Are Local

The drivers of the climate crisis are clear; however, the cascading and compounding impacts are hard to overstate. The climate crisis will not spare anyone from its impacts. That said, the impacts will be felt most by those who can least afford hardship. For example, in Blacksburg, Virginia, a well-resourced semi-urban center in rural Central Appalachia, increased temperatures will negatively impact farm workers who lack protections from extreme heat, and flooding may impact frontline communities who have higher levels of poverty. Worse yet, climate-related food insecurity will compound these impacts. Like Blacksburg, many local governmentsare planning for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Wicked problems require solutions that include diverse stakeholders and knowledge; however, many local governments may lack resources for such partnerships. Here, we provide a local case of collaborative climate change policy work to illustrate how researchers can engage with practitioners to tackle the climate crisis.

As the Advocacy Chair for the Science Policy, Education, and Advocacy Club at Virginia Tech [Lia], I established a partnership with the town of Blacksburg to develop regional recommendations to prepare for climate threats. Blacksburg has a sustainability planner on staff, however, climate change’s complexity demands collaborative solutions. Moreover, less-resourced nearby localities do not have a sustainability planner, an inequitable issue further underscored by the region’s history of resource extraction and environmental justice.

I helped develop three policy one-pagers focused on an equitable and climate-resilient food system. These recommendations, designed for a future regional food policy council to consider, were the result of an extensive literature review, benchmarking of 100+ similar localities, conversations with Virginia Tech faculty, and coaching provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Regular partner meetings ensured our work (the one-pager was their idea!) reflected town needs and resources. Now in its second year, a master’s student is building on the project to investigate resources and climate solutions with regional food system stakeholders.

Now let’s talk about what you can do! Look at the Mayor's Climate Agreement or Global Covenant of Mayors to find localities near you engaged in climate planning and reach out to offer your research support. Connect with research4impact to be matched with a practitioner in need of support. Link up with the Union of Concerned Scientists or Local Science Engagement Network to gain resources on local science advocacy. Remember, it isn’t going to take us doing the absolute right thing, it is going to take everyone doing what they can.

As Civic Science Fellows, Lia is leading an effort to map university-community policy engagement across the United States and Andrew is developing a digital platform for fostering effective, sustainable collaborations between scientists and policymakers at the state and local level.