By Alex Horning, WM Law Student and Fall 2011 VASG Law Intern
Many people think climate change adaptation is an issue for the future, but communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and in Hampton Roads, Virginia are already beginning to adapt. For my Virginia Sea Grant externship, I compiled case studies on the approaches these communities are taking to climate change adaptation.
Maryland and Virginia are adapting to climate change in very different ways. The Maryland state government issues policy and implementation guidelines for local adaptation, while localities in Virginia are implementing their own climate change adaptation measures without state guidance. Working with VASG director Troy Hartley, I sought to identify which policy approaches led to successful implementation of climate change adaptation measures.
By compiling policy directives, city council meeting minutes, newspaper articles, and other media sources, I have been able to roughly evaluate local success implementing adaptation measures. Many Maryland localities have adopted higher requirements for new building elevations to reduce flood damage. Local adaptation strategies in Virginia have been less uniform. Some localities have implemented comprehensive adaptation measures, while others remain largely inactive towards climate change.
The case studies I compiled will be used in a class examining implementation approaches for environmental policies. Through my externship at Virginia Sea Grant I have learned bout new research and met individuals involved in climate change adaptation at the regional level. This project allowed me to work and learn at the intersection of science and policy, and I am confident my experiences here will prove useful in a future career in environmental law and policy.
