Jacquelyn partnered with Bainbridge Island’s Climate Change Advisory Committee and Climate Change Adaptation/Mitigation Officer to create a focus group with Bainbridge Island’s senior community. This pilot focus group aimed to guide implementation strategies of the Climate Action Plan and serve as a model for future focus groups that other cities can use.  A capstone in fulfillment of the UW PCC Graduate Certificate in Climate Science.

Written by: Jacquelyn Shaff

In recent years, many cities have written climate action plans (CAPs), which often include city actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and prepare for climate change impacts (adaptation). Once completed, cities then must do the ongoing work of implementing the plan within their communities. The Bainbridge Island City Council approved the first-ever CAP for the city in November 2020. The CAP was developed by a volunteer group called the Climate Change Advisory Committee (CCAC). The CAP includes three goals for the Island:

• Mitigation
• Adaptation
• Promoting community engagement to take mitigation and adaptation actions.

The CAP highlights 172 total actions divided into six areas: energy, buildings, transportation, natural environment, waste, and community engagement. We designed, implemented, and evaluated a single focus group with community members on the CAP to determine which individual actions residents would be willing to partake in for each of the six areas. The overarching goal was to understand the responsibility residents feel for addressing the CAP emission reduction goals and use the results from the focus group to guide implementation strategies and be a model for other focus groups.

This virtual focus group included individuals from the Bainbridge Island senior community. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report describes how older persons are especially vulnerable to climate impacts, yet many international climate change instruments do not include older persons. Age can be a factor in the effects of climate-related health concerns, such as heat stress, vector-borne diseases, and changes in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. There can also be generational differences in attitudes towards climate change and climate change actions. So, understanding the perceptions and feelings of older persons towards climate change action remains an important part of establishing successful CAP implementation strategies for communities. 

According to the 2021 U.S. Census, residents over 65 years old make up about 26% of Bainbridge Island’s population. The senior citizens are an important part of Bainbridge Island and have a significant stake in the community’s wellbeing. Many are actively involved in community initiatives, including those related to climate change. Their participation and inclusion in community work provide vast arrays of knowledge and experiences that will be important to reaching climate mitigation and adaptation goals. Additionally, many will be especially vulnerable to climate impacts that the CAP describes for Bainbridge Island specifically.

The focus group

The virtual focus group started with a presentation on general climate science, climate impacts on Bainbridge Island specifically, and the CAP. The CAP divides individual climate actions into six focus areas. For each, I introduced why they are important to address, the CAP goals, and the individual actions residents can take. Participants then had an opportunity to discuss how they felt about the list of individual actions (e.g., actions they have already done, actions they plan to do, actions they would not be interested in doing, actions that should not be on the list, or actions that should be added to the list). This semi-structured discussion provided results to better understand the individuals’ concerns, values, and norms that influence their willingness to take specific CAP actions and identify areas where there may be reluctance. In addition, there were opportunities for questions, which also helped to better understand what those in the focus group do and do not know about climate change. Next, participants were asked how likely they were to participate in individual actions for each focus area. Finally, the Climate Change Adaptation/Mitigation Officer, Autumn Salamack, provided an update on what the City of Bainbridge Island (COBI) has planned for climate mitigation and adaptation this coming year.

Evaluation tools

To evaluate the efficacy of my climate communication, I conducted surveys using PollEverywhere before and after the event. Overall, the participants shared that they have varying levels of knowledge of climate change and are already doing most individual actions in all categories that they can. In addition, participants highlighted how their differing lifestyles, such as access to vehicles and living situations, strongly influenced which climate actions are accessible. The post-focus group survey also provided the opportunity for participants to give feedback on the event format.

Reflections

The focus group provided participants with information on climate change and space to openly discuss their feelings and responsibilities felt towards climate actions. Overall, the focus group was an opportunity for community members to learn about climate action in their community and connect with other residents. This event showed the value of input and guidance from community members and provided the opportunity to foster connections between community members and the COBI.

Future focus group events with different groups in the community could provide additional insights. The initial presentation material can be catered to the specific audience of the focus group. For example, if there are initial surveys like I did to gauge climate science, the first part of the presentation on climate science can be altered depending on the level of knowledge. Suppose participants have a greater understanding of climate science. In that case, some material can either be removed or switched out for visuals or descriptions that go into more detail. The portion spent discussing climate impacts on Bainbridge Island can also focus specifically on how the participants will be affected. For example, if this focus group methodology was done with local business owners, climate impacts discussed should focus specifically on how that would affect business owners or their businesses. Based on discussions with the focus group participants, other ideas of groups on the Island to do focus groups with include churches, social clubs, and young professionals.

Jacquelyn Shaff is a second-year master’s student at the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and completed this capstone project for the Graduate Certificate in Climate Science. Her thesis focuses on historical ecology and the role of local ecological knowledge of fishers to understand trends in marine top predator abundance and distribution over time. Jacquelyn is interested in the importance of different knowledge systems and perceptions of environmental change as it pertains to community-based solutions to conservation practices. She currently works as a research biologist at Cascadia Research Collective, where she studies odontocete movement ecology and interactions with fisheries.