How the Differential Vulnerability of  the Elderly Hinders Wider Community Capacity for Resilient Adaptation on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/pv63g182j

Abstract

The occurrence of new and more frequent natural hazard events spurred by climate change necessitates that communities along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts respond with equitable and effective strategies for resilient adaptation. To understand how current resilient adaptation strategies, fail to comprehensively address the vulnerability of marginalized populations, this paper concentrates on the differential vulnerability of elderly coastal community members. The elderly is a demographically diverse population that consists of individuals in every social, political, economic, and cultural group within the Atlantic and Gulf regions. My research evaluates how the health and socioeconomic well-being of this population detrimentally impacts their ability to carry out three resilient adaptation strategies: evacuation, reconstruction, and managed retreat. I argue that the intersectionality of this population reveals that the failure to address the elderly’s susceptibility to coastal risks, breaks down the resilient capacity of coastal communities as a whole.

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