Semester of Graduation

Summer 2022

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geography

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Louisiana is uniquely exposed to severe weather because of its geography and climate. Louisiana’s extreme weather is exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change, which will worsen in the future. The risks its population and environment are exposed to has generated several policies and planning documents, nine of which are analyzed in this thesis. Three plans are from the state level, three are from the parish level, and three are from the urban (New Orleans) level. These planning documents pose various adaptation and mitigation actions to ameliorate and address multiple climate issues. These actions utilize specific mitigation strategies. The content and thematic analyses investigate how the plans succeed and fail to address climate hazards through these actions. The qualitative analyses ask how the plans address climate hazards through mitigation and adaptation actions. The thematic analysis found seven themes from the nine plans represented by data taken directly from the planning documents. The content analysis used specific mitigation and adaptation phrases in a word and phrase count to investigate the volume of topics.

Infrastructure was the primary result of adaptation and mitigation actions from both analyses across state and local levels. Equity was the least discussed theme across the nine plans. Louisiana is a high-emitting state where industry produces more than half of its emissions. This was not addressed in any actions. Anthropogenic climate change was recognized but not addressed in the adaptation and mitigation actions. These results suggest that extractive industry (material, chemical, and non-renewable energies) prioritizes economic and social policies over climate issues and the coastal population.

Date

7-11-2022

Committee Chair

Cook, Brittany

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.5629

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