Citizens Invited to Rate Climate Change Vulnerabilities in New Online Exercise

The Town of Essex Climate Adaptation Team (ECAT) is seeking feedback from citizens on how the impacts of climate change may affect individuals in the community. 

The Climate Impacts Vulnerability Exercise presents six different fictional characters designed to represent some common attributes of Town of Essex citizens. Respondents will read the biographies of each character, including their employment, family life, hobbies, and life goals, then complete an exercise to identify how their chosen character would be impacted by climate change.

“We often think and talk about climate change in the context of how it will affect institutions, like local governments or businesses, for example” said Niharika Bandaru, Climate Change Analyst. “This exercise is really designed to focus in on the individual level. Not only will this provide more information to the Team on how Town of Essex citizens perceive climate change, but it’s also an opportunity to respondents to learn about how individuals may be impacted by climate change differently.”

Citizens can complete the exercise by visiting www.essex.ca/ClimateImpactsExercise. Character information and biographies are available online at www.essex.ca/ECAT.

Background

In March of 2019, the Town of Essex received a grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to fund the Climate Change Analyst position. In November of that year, Council passed a motion in support of the development of a Climate Change Adaptation Plan, including the creation of the Essex Climate Adaptation Team. The team, made up of citizens and stakeholders, has been meeting throughout the year to complete the plan.

For an update on the work conducted by the Essex Climate Adaptation Team and the Climate Change Analyst, please read the July 20 Report to Council.

To learn more about the Essex Climate Adaptation Team, please visit www.essex.ca/ECAT

To receive updates about the Town’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan, subscribe online at www.essex.ca/news