The Hoosier Life Survey: Assessing Hoosier preparedness for environmental change, extreme weather, and other risks

Abstract

The Hoosier Life Survey (HLS) is the nation’s most comprehensive statewide public-opinion survey of environmental change to date. The HLS addresses how environmental changes—particularly extreme weather events—are perceived, how they affect people in their homes and towns, what Hoosiers are doing about it, and what they expect for the future. This research, sponsored by Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI), was funded by IU’s Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge initiative.

Between August and December 2019, ERI reached out to 10,000 adult (18+) Hoosiers across Indiana—from Chicago’s suburbs to Cincinnati’s metropolitan fringe, from the Grand Chain of the Wabash to the shore of northern Indiana’s historic Limberlost Swamp. In total, 2,739 Hoosiers—representing 90 of the state’s 92 counties—responded. Thanks to their participation, ERI can now offer scientists, public officials, and the general public new insight into how climate change affects Hoosiers in their everyday lives.