Two new studies—a survey of residents in hurricane-battered Florida and Texas and a survey of people in wildfire-scarred California—reveal that negative personal experiences are among key variables in pushing people to take or accept protective measures like flood insurance and planned power shut offs. The wildfire survey, published in Energy Research & Social Science, is among the first analyses of people's views of climate adaptation policies enacted by companies rather than governments. The hurricane survey, published in Environmental Research Letters, includes populations, such as elderly and poor people, that are often overlooked in such research. Both papers' findings could inform public communications and policy to help vulnerable communities protect themselves from these and other extreme events.