This paper summarises the first experiences of the Public Affairs Centre (PAC) in connecting the dots with regard to climate change, livelihoods and deprivation, and the regulatory framework that governs communities in southern India along the Gulf of Mannar. This is sought to be achieved with the design and application of the Climate Change Score Card (CCSC). This participatory tool draws liberally from the traditions of open source access and equitable participation offered through PRA and Citizen Report Cards. Opinion and experience from all stakeholders in the critical situation along the Gulf is matched with climate change analysis to offer all participants an equal opportunity to make informed decisions and suggest policy reform that will alter the ground situation of the area. The initial results of this investigation indicate a complex of formal livelihoods and subsistence mechanisms in the area. While many of these are traditional and family-bound, coping strategies by communities also result in new means of survival in often harsh circumstances. The primary effect of climate change has been to move communities to re-assess their survival chances in the wake of severe shifts in rainfall and temperature patterns, soil erosion, and loss of green cover over a relatively short span of time. The immediate economic impact of climate change has been that of loss of livelihoods, loss of livelihood spaces through coastal erosion and saline ingress, and alteration of livelihood patterns because of shifting weather patterns. The social impacts include internal displacements and altering settlement patterns, as well as migration to opportunity areas in cities, and the critical loss of livelihood skills as a result of lack of practice. The response of the administration towards these changes has generally been lethargic; however individual functionaries have expressed interest in the analysis. This is work in progress, and the CCSC will be tested in its full expression towards the end of 2011. The pilot stage has been completed.