Abstract

Vulnerability of Local Restorative Environments to Global Environmental Change
Track: Environmental Management
Author(s): James Hipp

In 2006, 12.3 million people visited one of seven California State Parks/Beaches in Orange Coast District (OCDSP). Park visitation - by the three million residents of Orange County, CA, or 45 million tourists per year - offers considerable health benefits with respect to psychological restoration and physical health attributed to the nature experience. There have been few studies on the vulnerability of such restorative environments, and their latent and manifest health benefits, to global environmental change.

California Climate Change Center details that under a 'Lower Warming Range (3-5.5oF)' scenario, California will experience 6-14 inches of sea level rise, 2-2.5 times as many heat wave days, 1.5 times more critically dry years, and a 10-35% increase in large wildfire risk by 2070. With approximately 17 miles of beach and 6,000 acres of coastal scrub canyons, OCDSPs and the experiences within are at significant risk to consequences of climate change.

James Hipp
University of California, Irvine
209 Social Ecology I
University of California, Irvine
Irvine , California 92697
United States
Phone: 9492752633
E-mail: ahipp@uci.edu