In the News: Discourses of Climate Change East of I-95 in North Carolina

Abstract

For coastal North Carolinians, the names Matthew and Florence conjure memories of water, wind, and destruction. These deadly hurricanes will be far from the last – eastern North Carolina faces projections of increasingly severe hurricanes and coastal flooding due to climate change. In a state famous for its division on climate change science and action, we ask how significant events in the 2010s, such as natural disasters and political moments, shaped climate discourse in its flood- prone eastern counties. We chose four North Carolina local newspapers for our analysis, as research shows local media sources present useful information on community perceptions and experiences. These newspapers represent a varied set of counties based on socioeconomic and geographic indicators, allowing us to create a more nuanced picture of the discourse over temporal, spatial, and social scales in a diverse region. The results of this work will aim to better understand what factors influence the evolution of climate change discourse over time.