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Rural Midwest communities have lowest capacity for addressing climate change

By Ethan Sandweiss

Posted August 3, 2023

flooding

The survey used factors such as families below poverty level, households with broadband and the presence of a head of planning or zoning to create its index.   (Jennifer Weingart, WVPE)

According to an index developed by the nonprofit Headwaters Economics, 73 percent of Midwest communities have “low capacity” for climate resilience.  

Midwestern states ranked below the Gulf Coast (58 percent) and West (56 percent) for the lowest capacity region.

Indiana ranks in the middle of the Rural Capacity Index with 56 percent of communities below the national median. Plains states such as the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas sit in the bottom 10.  

The survey used factors such as families below poverty level, households with broadband and the presence of a head of planning or zoning to create its index.  

Read more: Climate grants hardest to get for towns that need them most

Limited capacity is bad news for rural communities but obtaining that data can be a game changer.  

Assistant Director for Strategy and Engagement at IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute Bill Brown explained that it’s important that communities use these metrics to prove their need.  

“When someone's applying for a state grant or a federal grant and they want to be able to increase the level of funding, one of the things they can do is qualify as a disadvantaged community,” Brown said. 

Read more: Indiana University to help small towns access climate, resilience funding

The index also maps low-capacity communities that are at highest risk for wildfires and flooding. Many in Indiana are in the southwestern part of the state.   

The small town of Shoals, for example, ranks in the first percentile for capacity but the 98th percentile for number of homes built on a flood plain. 

Read more: Bill to allow Indiana counties to use outdated flood maps passes state House

“I think there may be a misperception in the Midwest that we don't have the same threats as the coastal areas do,”  Brown said. "We are experiencing many of the aspects of climate change in Indiana, whether it be drought, flooding, extreme heat or extreme weather events.”

Floods and wildfires will increase as climate change progresses, leaving many rural midwestern towns at risk.  

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