Waves of grief and anger: Communicating through the “end of the world” as we knew it

The challenge of communicating about retreat or relocation is increasingly pressing for adaptation professionals working with and in communities faced with rising seas, frequent flooding, heat extremes, and wildfire risk. The leading question to date is about finding “the right words” to use, rather than taking a more comprehensive look at relocation and the human needs throughout that process – one complicated by underlying sociopolitical dynamics, local histories, racist legacies, people’s socioeconomic realities, attachments to place, and emotional responses to an overwhelming and seemingly intractable problem. This chapter sketches out the deeply human, psychological, and relational needs that need to be addressed in an effective communication strategy. Building on an extensive literature review and a generic discussion of communicative tasks in support of transformative change (Moser, 2019), this chapter applies this framework to relocation, drawing on what is known about perceptions, attitudes, opinions, and emotional responses to climate change impacts, to substantiate a more relational, culturally appropriate, and reparative approach to engaging communities facing climate-induced relocation.