SENR Seminar Series welcomes Dr. Gabrielle Wong-Parodi

The School of Environment and Natural Resources Seminar Series and the Decision Sciences Collaborative at The Ohio State University welcome Dr. Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, assistant professor of Earth System Science and center fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, who will present, "Understanding and building the resilience of communities facing weather extremes" starting at 4:00 p.m. in room 103 Kottman Hall or via Zoom. 

A growing number of people worldwide face increasing threats from weather extremes. This talk presents results from two studies. The first focuses on frontline community households – those who face the first and worst of climate impacts – regarding their increasing exposure to poor indoor air quality during wildfires in the San Francisco Bay Area. This work was conducted in partnership with two non-profits, Climate Resilient Communities and El Concilio of San Mateo County, and PurpleAir, one of the largest low-cost air quality sensor companies in the world. Here we surveyed 401 households, with an oversample of frontline households, and explored whether (1) housing upgrades encourage or inhibit protective action when faced with acute exposure to poor air quality and (2) the indoor experience of climate change correlates with perceptions about climate change. The second study focuses on 46 small- and mid-sized US Gulf Coast cities at risk for flooding due to sea level rise, storms, and aging stormwater infrastructure. Here we empirically explored the role of different types of engagement (self-guided tutorial, web-assisted, and in-person) in co-producing actionable knowledge, and how such knowledge may shape the adaptive capacity of US Gulf small cities to respond to climate change-driven impacts. The talk will conclude with remarks about next steps and the merits of conducting community-engaged research to advance actionable knowledge for escalating weather extremes.