TITLE:
“Where Can We Go?” Developing a Communications Strategy to Move Endangered Residents to Climate Change Haven Communities
AUTHORS:
Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Latchlon Aldridge, Buffy Bell, William Bourgin, Brady Edwards, Michael Gorbett, Tzu-Wei Huang, Aden Lane, Ines Latapia, T. J. Lowe, Jaida Meade, Lauren Montes, Spencer Powell, Landon Reed, Caitlyn Schultz, Samuel Stotts, Mia Tucker
KEYWORDS:
Climate Change Haven Communities, United States Internal Migration, Climate Change Communications
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.16 No.8,
August
28,
2025
ABSTRACT: Few studies have yet focused on communications strategies for moving persons from climate endangered areas of their home country to safer areas within the country. The present study develops a communications plan for moving endangered California residents to safer areas in the Appalachian Mountain Region. Presently, over 24 million US residents live in Southern California. During the past five years, they have faced increasingly damaging events attributable to climate change. Among these are wildfires, droughts, floods, and landslides which have caused billions of dollars in damages. It is vital that these residents be moved to a safer, more habitable location within the United States. The Virginia Highlands can serve as a re-location area for 2,300,000 of these Americans. We present a multi-media communications campaign for attracting these California residents to the Virginia Highlands and simultaneously preparing current Virginia Highlands residents for their arrival.