Human Dimensions and Communication of Florida's Climate

Florida’s climate system, which is nested within regional and global climate systems, cannot be fully understood without including human dimensions that interact with the climate systems in two principal ways: 1) where social systems facilitate or dominate causes of climate change, and 2) where climate change affects social systems. These aspects include complex social interactions and feedbacks, but can be broken down into the impacts, risks, and causes of climate change specific to Florida. Further, communication of these elements can interact with social in/action and facilitate or obstruct adaptive responses. It is important to view the organization of these interactions through social structure, where essential drivers of social forces include the political-economy, demographic, and attitudinal architecture of Florida social systems. In this chapter, we review key social drivers of specific impacts, risks, and causes of climate change within Florida.