Ideally, mitigation policy is implemented at an international or national level, where the scope of emissions is very large. Source: Adapted from BCDC's "LIving with a Rising Bay," 2009. In selecting mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is important to consider trade-offs and try to achieve both ends if possible. Desalination of seawater, for example, is an adaptation strategy for drought that is energy intensive, usually producing significant levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Some actions, however, can pit these goals against each other. For example, restoring tidal wetlands both sequesters carbon (mitigation) and builds a buffer against sea-level rise (adaptation). Some policies or planning actions can support both goals. Meanwhile, adaptation will be more difficult and more expensive, and more people are likely to suffer.
Without any mitigation, climate change impacts - higher temperatures, higher sea levels, changes in water availability - will be worse. These two planning efforts are referred to, respectively, as climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. In the meantime, the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases has continued to rise at an increasing rate.Įven if we are somehow able to stop producing greenhouse gases tomorrow, the high concentration of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere from historic emissions - since we began burning fossil fuels for energy in the 19th century - will cause the climate to continue to change (see Figure 1).Īs a result we must not only intensify our efforts to reduce climate change both now and in the future, but we also must prepare for and adapt to its inevitable effects. Even where major efforts are moving forward, such as California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), planned reductions will not even begin for 10 years, and they only represent a fraction of world emissions. But global efforts to slow it down by reducing greenhouse gas emissions have largely failed.
We have known about the perils of climate change for more than two decades. Membership for Allied Professionals & Citizens
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